Casar holds on to optimism on his way to D.C.
Greg Casar knows his congressional district is the product of gerrymandering.
The progressive Democratic congressman-elect from Austin, who will be taking his oath of office in less than a month, represents a district conceived by Republican lawmakers as an opportunity to end the political career of U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett.
In 2011, Texas Republicans forced Doggett out of District 25 by redrawing it to favor GOP candidates. That left Doggett with little choice but to compete in the newly created District 35, running from East Austin down to San Antonio.
Republicans hoped that San Antonio Latinos in District 35 would reject the Austin-based Anglo Democrat. (The theory was set to be tested in a primary duel between Doggett and Joaquin Castro, but Castro shifted to District 20 when that district’s representative, Charlie Gonzalez, decided not to seek another term.)
The latest round of redistricting produced a new district better suited to Doggett, which opened up an opportunity in District 35 for Casar, who was then serving his third term on the Austin City Council.
Casar hates gerrymandering. Nonetheless, he sees a silver lining in the way his district was stitched together.
“The blessing that came from a process I totally disagree with is actually being able to link up the West Side of San Antonio through the East Side of San Antonio down through Hays County and east to Austin,” Casar said Monday on the Expressnews’ Puro Politics podcast. “Because there’s actually a lot of shared interests along this corridor.
“You have a lot of our most historic Black and brown communities along this corridor. You have a lot of voters that need structural change at the state and federal level for their lives to get better. So when I talk about raising the minimum wage, it doesn’t matter whether you’re in Kyle or San Marcos or Converse or Pflugerville.”
Casar, 33, has devoted his career to advocating for the rights of workers, tenants, homeless individuals and those incarcerated for minor offenses.
He consistently rails against structural inequalities in our economic system. He said his conversations with District 35 voters over the past year convinced him that they want to see Congress address those inequalities.
“All these places are along I-35, but it’s overwhelmingly folks that are working their tails off or have earned the right to a dignified retirement because they have worked their tails off,” Casar said.
“But they have lived through this era of pandemic where they’ve lost family members, where people have lost jobs and where some of the biggest corporations and billionaires in the country have made trillions of dollars.”
Casar acknowledged that Republicans have made inroads with Latino voters in non-urban communities and said a key factor for Democrats is to better address economic issues.
“In the past, if folks asked what the Democratic Party is about, people would say it’s the party for the working person. I don’t think enough people think that anymore.
“So I think we really need to get a message out about raising people’s wages, about standing up for their benefits, about making sure that you know that we’re not just taking care of the folks at the top of the economy, but that if you’re trying to pay the mortgage or pay the rent, the Democrats are with you. I think that will win over so much of the Latino vote that is shaky.”
The child of Mexican immigrants, Casar has also advocated for an immigrationreform package that would create a path to citizenship for those already in the United States and protect the rights of Dreamers: undocumented
immigrants brought to this country when they were children.
Casar is convinced that immigration reform is a major priority for voters, even if polling suggests otherwise. He argues that voters haven’t stopped caring about immigration reform; they have simply lost hope that Congress is capable of getting it done.
“The expectations have been so lowered,” he said. “They’ve seen candidates campaign time and time again saying we’re going to get immigration reform done, and it just hasn’t gotten done.
“We can’t let that despair
set in.”
Casar said it will take a “muscular and aggressive Congressional Hispanic Caucus” (which will include nine freshman Democrats). He also indicated that he and his fellow progressives must be willing to compromise with Republicans.
“We’ve all talked as freshmen about really prioritizing getting something done,” he said. “And if that means sitting down with House Republican leadership to get something done, that’s what we should do.”