AUSTIN, Texas — It is one of the most influential groups in Congress. More than that, with around 100 members, the Congressional Progressive Caucus is also one of the chamber’s largest groups.
And, in 2025, it will be led by a Texan.
Congressman Greg Casar (D-Austin) is the first Progressive Caucus chair to come from a Republican-led state.
This week on Inside Texas Politics, the Democrat said that, for decades, people associated his party with being the party of working people. But he also argued that its reputation in this regard ended in the mid-2010s. One of his top priorities as the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus is earning back that distinction, and returning his party back to its roots.
“So, I think that the everyday person who says, ‘Why participate in politics? Everybody’s the same, screw this’ — we’ve got to be able to reach out to that person and show them we’re willing to stand up as a Democratic Party to the Elon Musks and Donald Trumps of the world on behalf of the everyday Texan,” the lawmaker said.
Casar said progressives in the Democratic Party have been willing to take those stands in the past, and he hopes Progressive Caucus members supercharge a quick rebrand of the party.
He argued that, in addition to representing working Americans, the Democrats’ organizing principle should be opposition to Washington corruption and too-powerful corporations.
He also acknowledged that part of the Republican Party’s success over the past several years has been getting its message out regularly through the right-wing media ecosystem.
Congressman Casar says Democrats must start doing the same.
That includes not only talking to legacy media, he said, but also getting out of their comfort zones and talking to voters through their favorite platforms.
“On the podcasts, on social media, on the cultural TV shows where maybe we might not agree with the host on every single thing,” the Democrat said. “Who cares? I don’t agree with members of my family on every single thing [or] the people who I see on the weekends who are my friends on every single thing. We need to be able to make sure that the Democratic Party tent is big enough to include people across geography, across belief systems.”