AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin City Council Member Greg Casar is thinking about running for Congress.

Casar announced Tuesday that he launched an exploratory committee to figure out if he’ll run for the open seat in the newly-drawn Texas Congressional District 35. The district encompasses most of Travis County east of Interstate 35, but snakes south down the freeway through Hays and Comal Counties, all the way into Bexar County and parts of San Antonio.

The seat for District 35 will be vacated by Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, who said he’s going to run to represent District 37, another district with new lines. The new lines for District 37 are essentially Austin west of Interstate 35 and the middle portion of Travis County, plus a small section of Williamson County.

Casar’s exploratory committee includes officials from Travis, Hays and Bexar Counties, along with other community and labor union leaders.

Greg Casar’s congressional exploratory committee

  • Travis County officials
    • Austin Mayor Steve Adler
    • Austin Mayor Pro-Tem Natasha Harper-Madison
    • Austin City Council members, Vanessa Fuentes, Sabino Renteria, Ann Kitchen and Paige Ellis
    • District Attorney Jose Garza
    • County Attorney Delia Garza
    • Austin ISD Trustee Kevin Foster
    • ACC Trustees Sean Hassan and Stephanie Gharakhanian
  • Hays County officials
    • Monica Becerra, wife of county judge Ruben Becerra
    • San Marcos City Council member Alyssa Garza, San Marcos CISD Trustee Juan Miguel Arredondo
  • Bexar County officials
    • San Antonio City Council members Teri Castillo and Jalen McKee Rodriguez
    • Bob Comeaux, VIA Metropolitan Transit board member
  • Community leaders
    • Former Senators Wendy Davis and Jose Rodriguez
    • Martha Cortera
    • Nelson Linder, NAACP
    • Chas Moore, Austin Justice Coalition
    • Tory Gavito, Way to Win
    • Amanda Woog, Texas Fair Defense Project
    • Rev. Darly Hoton
    • Pastor Joseph C. Parker
    • Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette, Huston-Tillotson University
    • Dave Cortez, Sierra Club
    • Eugene Sepulveda, Entrepreneurs Foundation
    • Sabrina Sha, Asian Democrats Central Texas
    • Neesha Dave
    • George Cofer, Hill Country Conservancy
  • Labor union leaders
    • Derrick Osobase, Communication Workers of America
    • Carol Guthrie, AFSCME Local 1624
    • Selena Xie, Austin EMS Association
    • Bob Nicks, Austin Firefighters Association
    • Ken Zarifis, Education Austin
    • Chap Thornton, Plumbers and Pipefitters
    • Thomas Kennedy, Building Trades Council
    • Sean Forkner, Carpenters Union
    • Jeremy Hendricks, Laborers Union
    • Willy Gonzalez, Unite Here

Casar won a seat on the Austin City Council in 2015 and represents District 4, which straddles I-35 in central Austin. His current term on council expires in 2025. He previously worked as the policy director for the Workers Defense Project, an advocacy organization for low-wage, immigrant workers in the Texas construction industry.