In a sweeping victory, Greg Casar, a former Austin City Council member and a member of AFSCME Local 1624, won his primary to represent Texas’ 35th Congressional District, which runs from Austin to San Antonio, making him the odds-on favorite to serve the district in Congress.
“The labor movement won this election alongside us,” said Casar. “As a longtime AFSCME member, I am ready to fight for public employees and public services, to pass the PRO Act and to work in direct partnership with the labor movement to improve millions of working families' lives. Solidarity forever.”
Casar, the son of Mexican immigrants, has helped raise wages for thousands of workers, successfully fought to expand civil rights protections and has passed laws to protect immigrant families from being separated.
Casar has also authored paid sick day laws that passed in Austin, San Antonio and Dallas, some of the most progressive in the state and, according to the Austin-American Statesman, possibly the entire South.
Other pro-worker laws that Casar has pushed for in his time as a city council member include raising wages for Austin’s lowest paid employees, up from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour, with health benefits.
Casar also fought for guaranteed paid sick days for temporary city workers and a $1000 "essential employee bonus" for front-line workers during the pandemic.
Casar was elected to Austin’s City Council in 2014. Local 1624 represents City of Austin employees and Travis County employees.
In his Congressional race, Casar was endorsed by AFSCME, the Texas Labor movement, as well as national figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.