Casar handily wins congressional nomination

Progressives claimed several victories in Democratic primary races Tuesday night, with former Austin City Council Member Greg Casar leading the pack. Casar easily defeated his rivals for the 35th Congressional District nomination, with a 40-point lead in early voting. Casar received 59.5 percent of the early vote in the district, which includes East Austin and parts of Hays, Comal and Bexar counties.

Casar received 71.2 percent of the early vote in Travis County. His closest rival, state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, received just a little more than 18 percent, and the other contenders, Rebecca Viagran and Carla-Joy Sisco, each tallied less than 6 percent of the early vote.

The 35th district is drawn to be a Democratic stronghold and Casar should have no trouble defeating Dan McQueen, the Republican nominee for the seat.

Casar, 32, had the support of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and the group he started after the 2016 presidential campaign, Our Revolution. The progressive political action organization worked hard to elect Casar, along with several other Texas candidates.

In a statement emailed to supporters and members of the media, Casar said, “Our campaign has built a movement of working people from San Antonio to Austin who are ready to fight because our futures depend on it. I’m incredibly honored to be the next Democratic nominee for TX-35. Together, we’re taking our fight to the halls of Congress – to fight and deliver on passing Medicare for All, protecting reproductive rights, creating good jobs, and fixing our power grid.”

The group said 100 volunteers had made 40,000 phone calls on Casar’s behalf, and sent out 24,000 texts to boost his election effort.