Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett is retiring after all, bringing an end to a nearly 50-year political career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will continue working with the same urgency and determination as if next year were my last, which in public office it will be,\u201d the longtime Democratic lawmaker said in a statement Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Doggett had first announced<\/a> he\u2019d forgo running for a 17th term in August if courts upheld the new House map that Texas Republicans drew at the urging of President Donald Trump.\u00a0The new map targeted five Democrat-held seats, making them more favorable for the GOP.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two Austin-area districts were merged into a single seat, which would have teed up a primary between Doggett, 79, whose current seat covers around two-thirds of the city, and\u00a0Greg Casar, a younger Democrat who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus and whose current district encompasses Austin\u2019s east side and portions of San Antonio.<\/p>\n But last month, after a panel of federal judges in Texas blocked the new map<\/a> on the grounds that it constituted a racial gerrymander, Doggett, the senior-most member of the Texas delegation, reconsidered. \u201cTo borrow from Mark Twain, the reports of my death, politically, are greatly exaggerated,\u201d he said in a video posted on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a final twist Thursday, a sharply divided Supreme Court said it would allow Texas to use the new GOP-drawn map<\/a>, finding that the three-judge panel committed serious errors in its ruling.\u00a0<\/p>\n Doggett took aim at Trump\u2019s push for mid-decade redistricting to help House Republicans defend their majority and pick up seats in next year\u2019s midterm elections, a move that has spawned tit-for-tat efforts in Democrat-run states.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTrump\u2019s racial gerrymandering is only his first major shenanigan designed to win next year\u2019s election and retain a House that poses no restraint to his dangerous whims and incessant drive for unlimited power.\u00a0More outrageous schemes will follow,\u201d the congressman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Doggett, a senior member of the Ways and Means and Budget committees, has compiled a progressive track record over more than three decades in the House.\u00a0<\/p>\n