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Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, suggested that he no longer plans to retire after federal judges ruled against a Republican-backed plan to alter Texas’ congressional districts on Tuesday.
Doggett had announced his qualified retirement earlier this year after Texas Republicans revealed a new redistricting map that would have pitted Doggett, 79, against fellow Texas Democratic Rep. Rep. Greg Casar, 36. Now that map’s future is in jeopardy, however.
“To borrow from Mark Twain I can happily say that the reports of my death politically are greatly exaggerated,” Doggett said in a video posted to social media.
“I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to continue to represent the only town I’ve ever called home, at a time when democracy faces the greatest challenges that it has ever faced at any point in my lifetime,” Doggett’s statement continued. “Thank you.”
ABBOTT CLEARS FINAL REDISTRICTING HURDLE AS TEXAS SENATE PASSES NEW TRUMP-APPROVED MAP
Doggett’s newfound confidence comes after a federal panel of judges ruled 2-1 that the GOP redistricting map appeared to constitute an illegal, race-based gerrymander.
“The public perception of this case is that it’s about politics,” U.S. District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, a Trump appointee, said in the majority opinion, joined by U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama, an Obama appointee.
“To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 map,” the judges said. “But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map.”
ABBOTT SIGNS TEXAS REDISTRICTING MAP INTO LAW, SECURING MAJOR GOP VICTORY AHEAD OF 2026 MIDTERMS
Judge Jerry Smith, a Reagan appointee, dissented without explanation.
The ruling is a significant blow to the Trump administration. It comes as President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have raced to pad the party’s razor-thin House majority in the run-up to the 2026 midterm elections — including by imploring some states to launch rare, mid-decade redistricting efforts.
As part of that push, legislators in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio have each redrawn their congressional maps.
FEDERAL JUDGES BLOCK TEXAS FROM USING REDRAWN CONGRESSIONAL MAP
Other states, including Florida and Kansas, are currently weighing similar efforts.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed on Tuesday to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court for review. He said Texas would also be seeking an emergency stay from the high court that would temporarily stay the lower court’s ruling.
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Gov. Greg Abbott sharply criticized the court’s ruling Tuesday, saying in a statement that Texas legislators “redrew our congressional maps to better reflect Texans’ conservative voting preferences — and for no other reason.”
“Any claim that these maps are discriminatory is absurd and unsupported by the testimony offered during ten days of hearings,” he added.
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