Longtime Austin Congressman Lloyd Doggett will not run for reelection after the U.S. Supreme Court decided that Texas could move forward with its newly drawn congressional map in the 2026 midterm election.
The new map eliminates one of Travis County's two Democrat-held seats. The redistricting would pit Doggett and Democratic Rep. Greg Casar against each other. Doggett previously said if that was the case, he would not run.
“I will continue working with the same urgency and determination as if next year were my last, which in public office it will be,” Doggett said in a statement Friday. “After that, I will seek new ways to join my neighbors in making a difference in the only town I have ever called home.”
Doggett's announcement comes after weeks of court battles.
In November, a Texas three-judge panel ruled the new maps were based on racial gerrymandering and ordered the state to use the maps drawn in 2021. Gov. Greg Abbott quickly appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court where Justice Samuel Alito allowed the state to temporarily reinstate the map while the court made its decision.
The Supreme Court released its decision on Thursday. Alito, writing for the majority, said the district court “had failed to honor the presumption of legislative good faith by construing ambiguous direct and circumstantial evidence against the legislature."
The court also said the lower court “had improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, causing much confusion and upsetting the delicate federal balance in elections.”
Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. Kagan, in writing the dissent, said the court’s stay "ensures that many Texas citizens, for no good reason, will be placed in electoral districts because of their race. And that result, as this Court has pronounced year in and year out, is a violation of the Constitution."
The Texas Legislature passed the new congressional map earlier this year in a special session after President Trump said he wanted five more Republican seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. This ruling increases the GOP’s chance of maintaining a majority in the House of Representatives, which could help further Trump's agenda.
“Trump’s racial gerrymandering is only his first major shenanigan designed to win next year’s election and retain a House that poses no restraint to his dangerous whims and incessant drive for unlimited power,” Doggett said. “More outrageous schemes will follow.”
Doggett has spent more than 50 years in Texas politics. He began in the 1970s when he served as state senator representing Austin. He has been a member of the U.S. House since 1994.
