Politics

Texas redistricting already took out one longtime Democrat. Here’s how.

Published

10 months ago

August 25, 2025

Democrats were forced into a generational fight in Texas — and the next younger generation won.

As Texas Republicans pressed forward with a mid-decade redistricting plan to shore up the GOP’s miniscule House minority, Democrats scrambled to gain an edge in a potential member-on-member matchup.

For weeks, three-decade incumbent Rep. Lloyd Doggett, 78, publicly insisted he was going to run in the redrawn 37th District while urging 36-year-old Rep. Greg Casar to run for a redder version of his current seat. But Doggett, a veteran of previous redistricting fights, ultimately announced last week he wouldn’t seek reelection in a newly configured Austin-area district — opting against an expensive, messy fight against a rising star.

“I think in the last two weeks Lloyd Doggett thought that some of the folks who would be with him money, marbles, and chalk … were, in fact, with Greg, and that gave him great pause as to what his chances were,” said Mark Littlefield, an Austin-based political strategist, using what he called an old Texas political aphorism.

The staredown between the two politicians — which played out before a primary campaign fully kicked off — came as Democrats have been grappling with a broader reckoning over seniority and age. The party has experienced a swell of anti-incumbent sentiment since President Joe Biden was pushed off the ticket last year, and many Democrats are steeling themselves for messy primaries. Casar, who was elected to the House in 2022 and has earned national attention for his meteoric climb to become chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, appeared poised to tap into the party’s thirst for fresh talent in any race against Doggett.

Publicly, Casar managed to stay out of the spotlight and above the fray; behind the scenes, however, he was quietly starting to collect endorsements and fundraising commitments. Meanwhile, Doggett prompted some hand-wringing in the party after he urged Casar to run in a different district. Both Doggett and Casar declined to comment.

Before Doggett reversed course, Casar was prepared to time his official entry into the primary contest with the rollout of an endorsement slate containing half of the Austin City Council and more than a dozen members of Congress from a diverse cross-section of the Democratic Caucus, according to a person granted anonymity to share private campaign details.

Casar’s allies had already prepared $1.5 million in outside spending to boost him in a potential primary, with more expected to land as energetic grassroots groups mobilized. Outside progressive groups like End Citizens United and the Working Families Party were gearing up to support Casar, too.

“There’s no question where we stand, and will continue to stand. We would have stood with Greg,” said Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party.

Some buzzy figures in Democratic politics were maneuvering to shore up Casar’s standing. Strategist and philanthropist Luis A. Miranda Jr., also the father of “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, even hosted a “Latinos for Greg” fundraiser along with Democratic fundraiser Regina Montoya. Democratic activist and actress Jane Fonda was scheduled to hold an event on Casar’s behalf, too, said the person familiar with the campaign.

Organizations like BOLD PAC, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ political arm, were also gearing up to fight against Doggett, who is white, in support of Casar, the child of Mexican immigrants.

BOLD PAC spokesperson Valeria Ojeda-Avitia denounced the Texas gerrymandering as “racist” and “partisan” and said the group “is prepared to go all in to defend our incumbents and ensure Latino communities have the representation they deserve.”

Casar was also already ready to launch a campaign with a formidable national team, including Molly Murphy and Madeline Conway of Impact Research. He had a launch video produced by Morris Katz, an advisor to Zohran Mamdani, ready to go.

Only adding to the pressure was an op-ed authored by a slate of Texas political veterans calling on Doggett to “pass the torch,” which helped signal that many of Doggett’s longtime backers might not stick with him through another tough race.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett speaks at the Texas State Capitol, Aug. 16, 2025, in Austin.

Despite all this, Doggett’s announcement took some Democrats by surprise: He’s the dean of the Texas delegation with $6.2 million in the bank and a seat on one of the most influential Congressional committees, the taxwriting Ways and Means panel.

But Democrats had privately blanched at the prospect of the member-on-member contest, especially between two lawmakers so closely aligned on progressive politics that could test allegiances.

Most Democrats still wish they hadn’t been forced to choose between the two men, especially with Doggett’s longstanding ties to the party.

“This redistricting mid-decade is really fucked up,” said Tory Gavito, president of Way to Win, which was set to back Casar. “When I found out that I was going to have to push toward the primary, I literally cried. It’s just not a position I wanted to be in.”

Yet even with the potential matchup in the 37th district clear, Democrats are still facing other messy contests in the wake of Republicans’ new map that could net the GOP up to five new seats. Casar and Doggett aren’t the only two Democratic incumbents being drawn into the same district, with other incumbents having to choose which of a shrinking number of Democratic or competitive seats they want to run for.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, an outspoken voice in the party, has signaled she might run for a redrawn seat currently held by the more centrist Rep. Marc Veasey, who himself was drawn out of his Fort Worth home. If Veasey moves to one of the two redrawn Democratic Dallas-area seats, this could result in a potential matchup between Crockett and first-term Rep. Julie Johnson, whose current Dallas-area district was redrawn into a sprawling red seat.

And in Houston, longtime Rep. Al Green could opt to run for the vacant seat held by the late Rep. Sylvester Turner after the district turned redder. Green’s office did not respond to a request for comment. But doing so would put him on a collision course with the victor in an ambitious field of Democrats now running in a special November special election for the current district.

“My goal and my plan is to serve this district long term,” said Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee in an interview. He’s leading some polls for the seat along with former Houston City Council Member Amanda Edwards, who struck a similar tone: “Right now I want to focus my attention on the special election…given the fluidity, it’s my intention to serve this 18th Congressional District.”

Politics

The “Pride Match” that wasn’t

Published

25 minutes ago

June 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

SEATTLE — As a lesbian who was born in Egypt, Noha Mahgoub could have chosen to dress for what local organizers branded a “Pride Match” in colors associated with either her sexual orientation or her country of origin. The 43-year-old Democratic legislative aide — one of the top staffers in Washington state government — chose the latter, arriving in a red Egyptian national team jersey, a black hat emblazoned with YALLA and red-white-and-black tricolor facepaint.

“I’ve seen Pride shirts, I’ve seen Pride face paintings,” she observed from a concourse minutes before national anthems began echoing around Lumen Field. “It’s been really great, but I’m seeing a lot more Egypt and Iran and people cheering for their countries and singing their songs.”

Indeed, despite FIFA’s announcement that rainbow flags would be permitted in the stadium, few were visible as the match began. Instead, the stands rippled with the colors of the two Middle Eastern countries on the field, including many of the pre-revolutionary lion-and-sun flags that FIFA has attempted to ban under a stadium code of conduct that prohibits political displays.

Mahgoub had seen Egypt’s national team in person only once before, as a child while the team was angling to qualify for the 1990 World Cup. Since then, Mahgoub and her family relocated to Washington state, where she said the local Egyptian-American community has become enlivened by new arrivals coming to work at Seattle-based tech companies.

“You know how it is, you start calling everybody your cousins — a lot of cousins that I wasn’t related to,” Mahgoub said. “Well, I think a lot of them are here.”

Politics

Why Belgium’s prime minister isn’t cheering on the Red Devils

Published

3 hours ago

June 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Ah, Belgium. The country of fries, chocolate, Kevin De Bruyne and, some might say, chronic political division.

Beyond Brussels, a mighty international melting pot, the country is split between Dutch-speaking Flanders, French-speaking Wallonia and a small German-speaking community. Those linguistic divisions are mirrored in its politics: Belgium has separate party systems on either side of the language border, as well as a highly devolved federal structure that gives significant powers to its regions.

Today, Belgian politics is as fragmented as ever. It took 234 days to form a federal government after the June 2024 election (yes, you read that right). The delay was driven largely by the fact that no camp came close to winning a majority, forcing months of negotiations between parties with sharply different ideological and linguistic bases.

Flemish nationalism has also become a growing force, shaped by two right-wing nationalist parties: the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), which wants to transform Belgium into a looser confederal state and ultimately give Flanders far greater autonomy, and the far-right Vlaams Belang, which openly campaigns for Flemish independence.

So, you might think the 2026 World Cup would offer Belgium’s leader a rare opportunity to rally and unify the country behind a shared national symbol, right?

Wrong.

Prime Minister Bart De Wever, who hails from the N-VA party, has expressed almost no public support for the Red Devils, Belgium’s national soccer team.

That contrasts with leaders in nearby countries that also qualified for the World Cup. The leaders of the Netherlands, Germany and France have all publicly backed their squads, whether on social media or through public appearances.

The reason may be simple: De Wever just doesn’t care for the sport.

A Belgian official told Blue Light News: “The prime minister is not a soccer fan, so he doesn’t seek to project that image publicly. To do otherwise would not be authentic.”

Flemish media have indeed reported that the prime minister has little interest in soccer. In a podcast appearance a few years ago, he said the sight of people “going totally crazy in a group in the stands” left him feeling “ice cold.”

But politics is likely part of the story too. De Wever has led the Flemish nationalist N-VA since 2004. Throughout his political career, he has argued that Flanders should have far greater autonomy and that Belgium should evolve into a confederal state. For a politician with that background, overt displays of Belgian national unity probably don’t come naturally, and in fact contradict emphasis on Flemish autonomy.

This is not the first time the N-VA’s relationship with the Red Devils has attracted attention. In 2015, after Belgium reached No. 1 in the FIFA world rankings, Francophone Socialist Party leader Laurette Onkelinx asked the Chamber of Representatives to applaud the team. All parties joined in, except the N-VA.

During Euro 2016, the N-VA had to deny it instructed ministers and MPs to avoid publicly celebrating the Red Devils so as not to appear too Belgian, after rumors circulated in Belgian media.

One of De Wever’s few comments about this year’s World Cup concerned Belgium’s official tournament song. His complaint: It did not contain a single word of Dutch.

“My staff have confirmed to me that not a single word is sung in Dutch. That is, to put it mildly, not elegant,” he said, in keeping with his ideologies of promoting Flanders, when asked about the song during a parliamentary committee hearing.

Sport is often treated as a vehicle for national unity. In New Zealand, Belgium’s opponent in today’s match, elite teams have successfully woven elements of Māori culture into their sporting traditions, most famously through the prematch haka, which has helped create a shared cultural identity that connects Māori and non-Māori New Zealanders.

In Belgium, however, this World Cup has not yet become that kind of unifying project. At least not from the very top.

Politics

World Cup match collides with Florida GOP bash

Published

5 hours ago

June 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

HOLLYWOOD, Florida — Colombia and Portugal’s World Cup match in Miami Gardens won’t be the only major draw pulling crowds to South Florida this weekend: Florida’s Republican grassroots are heading to Hollywood for their “Sunshine State Showdown.”

The GOP’s event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is one of the state party’s biggest of the year. The GOP sold more than 800 tickets, with the party’s most devoted volunteers and many donors coming in from all over the state to get revved up for the midterms, gameplan their messaging and hear directly from top candidates.

The shindig will feature speeches from Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, as well as gubernatorial candidates Rep. Byron Donalds, former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins. It will also include two congressional debates.

Several “Showdown” attendees said they were thrilled about the convergence of their party’s bash with a World Cup match. South Florida has already seen a huge economic boom in recent years, and the Magic City is poised to become even more prominent given Miami is set to be home to Donald Trump’s future presidential library and will host the G20 in December. “Miami is again at the center of the universe,” observed Miami-Dade County GOP Chair Kevin Cooper.

Several prominent Republicans said they see the international event as an opportunity to showcase the state. State Rep. Dean Black of Jacksonville, who also chairs the Republican Party of Florida’s fundraising committee, said he’d enjoyed seeing fans from abroad show appreciation over social media for American culture. “They have fallen in love with the greatness of America,” Black said. “By being exposed to the Republican Party event, they will learn just how that greatness came to be.”

Collins’ team said that while the lieutenant governor wasn’t attending the game, he was “happy the state of Florida is hosting so many fans from across the world experiencing the beauty of our state.”

Former Fox 35 Orlando anchor Ryan Elijah, a GOP candidate for Congress who’s attending the showdown, said he would be checking his phone regularly for World Cup updates.

“What a night for Florida to see the biggest names in Florida politics and World Cup soccer be just miles apart!” he said in a text. “It’s a dream night for tourism numbers and local businesses!”

But the packed weekend also risks turning into a logistical headache. The Hard Rock Hotel is one of the pickup points offering shuttle services to Miami Stadium. It’s less than 9 miles away from the big game.

Angie Wong, Republican executive committeewoman in Miami-Dade, attended Wednesday’s match between Scotland and Brazil. She said her family paid $200 for parking near the stadium and that it took more than an hour just to get out of the parking lot.

“We were lucky — we actually left before the game ended,” she said.

Yet this year’s “Showdown” is a more scaled-back affair than in the recent past. It won’t, for example, feature a dinner like in previous years. But that’s probably good news for any attendees who don’t want to miss the soccer match — or who are just trying to get back home without getting stuck in traffic. And it doesn’t have any major Trump administration officials attending, in comparison to last year, when the event prominently featured White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and now-former deputy chief of staff James Blair, who is currently running Trump’s political operation for the midterms.

Florida’s GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis — who remains highly popular with the state’s grassroots — won’t be speaking at the “Showdown” this weekend and his office didn’t reply to an inquiry about whether he’d attend Saturday night’s game. The governor was in the Miami area during the last couple of days, including hitting the Brazil-Scotland game on Wednesday night and holding a press conference at the former Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention center on Thursday.

Evan Power, chair of the state party, had already arrived at the Hard Rock Hotel on Wednesday night and said he got to watch a Brazilian victory parade happening right outside the restaurant where he was having dinner. He added he hadn’t had any issues getting in and out of the events center and that Republicans sold out their room block, “so I think we were able to get in before the craziness.”

“In our room block, people are happy because they’re not paying the market rate that is out there,” Power said. “Seeing some of the prices — they’re crazy now.”