Greg Casar, a progressive Democratic candidate running in Texas’s 35th congressional district, cruised to an easy victory in his primary election on Tuesday, defeating three other candidates and attaining a victory margin well over the 50 percent threshold needed to advance to the general election.
Casar secured 61.2 percent of the voteThis is 25,313 votes out of 41,330 ballots that were cast. This percentage was significantly higher than that of Eddie Rodriguez, second place candidate, who received 15.6 per cent of the vote.
It’s unclear who Casar will face in the general election come November — in the Republican primary, no candidate could attain a 50 percent margin, so that race will require a run-off to determine who Casar will be up against. But the district is decidedly progressive — one of the most progressive, in fact, in the state of Texas — which means Casar is all but certain to become the next congressional representative for the district.
“Tonight we won, but it wasn’t about me. This election was about us, the power of the people and the power of our movement,” Casar, a Democratic socialist, said in his victory speech. “Let’s celebrate the progressive movement in Texas.”
Pedro Lira, who serves as co-director of the Texas Working Families Party, lauded Casar’s win.
“Greg Casar shows up for working people, and they showed up for him,” Lira said in a statement. “This victory is a result of the work he put in as a public servant. We were with Greg from day one, and look forward to working with him to make America work for all of us.”
Casar has shown himself to be a progressive lawyer with an eye for institutional improvements. Since 2014, he has been a member the Austin city council. The police budget was reducedThese funds were used to buy housing for people experiencing homelessness. The council also established an autonomous forensics laboratory that operates separately from the police department.
“There were not that many cities that actually responded to the call to transform police budgets,” Casar said to Truthout in 2021, “and in those like Austin that did step up to that call in a significant way, we can now start showing the community the results.”
Casar was supported by many prominent progressives during his campaign, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), which campaigned for him along with other candidates in Texas last month. The New York Democrat explained to rally-goers at the time that it was important to send candidates who care about voters’ needs, like Casar, to Congress.
“If we send a Democrat who doesn’t give a damn about people, why would we expect people to vote for that person? How can we win when we don’t stand for anything? We have to stand for something in order to bring it home,” Ocasio-Cortez stated at the time.
Jessica Cisneros was another candidate Ocasio-Cortez supported in Texas. She ran in the 28th congressional District primary. However, she did not fare nearly as well as Casar. but will advance to a run-off electionFor incumbent Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar. The race was very tight and will likely be closely monitored when the two race for the run-off in May.
