On Tuesday, President Joe Biden received one of the biggest applause lines not related to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine when he announced his opposition to defunding the police.
“We should all agree: The answer is not to Defund the police. The answer is to fund the police with the resources and training they need to protect our communities,” he said. The words drew bipartisan applause from Republicans, who dislike the idea and have seen it as an effective tool to attack Democrats, and Democrats, who fear being seen as soft on crime.
But at the same time that Mr Biden was delivering his remarks, Greg Casar, a former member of Austin’s City Council, won his primary in Texas’s 35th district. Mr Casar’s district is solidly Democratic, meaning his primary victory all but guarantees he will win the general election.
Progressive national leaders like Sen Bernie Sanders and Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Mr Casar’s bid and Ms Ocasio-Cortez campaigned with Mr Casar in San Antonio alongside Jessica Cisneros. Ms Cisneros, who is running against incumbent Democratic Rep Henry Cuellar in Texas’s 28th district, advanced to a runoff after both she and Mr Cuellar failed to win a majority of votes on Tuesday.
“It was an important boost,” Mr Casar told The Independent in an interview. “We built grassroots support from San Antonio to Austin for years, but having national progressives band together is important to show we are not going there alone.”
At the same time, Mr Casar authored legislation that reduced funding to police in Austin by a third in 2020. Mr Casar spoke the day after his triumph, where he said how he focused on police becoming far less militarised.
“I have spent a lot of time working on these issues, closely with the communities that are affected the most. We need to provide more options for safety and civil rights in our communities,” he said. Instead, Mr Casar said that when Austinites call 911, callers are asked if they want emergency medical services, police, firefighters or mental health services.
Mr Casar said that despite his opponents’ criticisms, people responded positively to his ideas and said that the talking points were used to stop change.
“As our opponents kept on attacking the movement for Black Lives and attack police reform, I think voters responded to our message, which is that we can respond to safety and civil rights,” he said.
While Mr Casar is almost certain to win his race in November, he said that he will spend most of the next eight months focusing on electing local Democrats like county judges and boosting turnout in his district.
He said one major goal is to help Democrats beat Republican Texas Gov Greg Abbott, who has made opposition to defunding the police a cornerstone of his campaign and mentioned it when Donald Trump visited Texas earlier this year.
Mr Casar said when he joins Congress, he hopes to model himself like members of the Squad, such as when Rep Cori Bush slept on the steps of the Capitol to move Mr Biden to extend the eviction moratorium.
“She didn’t have to negotiate with Mitch McConnell and Joe Manchin,” he said, though the extension was eventually blocked by the Supreme Court. Similarly, he noted how Ms Ocasio-Cortez has led a movement to get Mr Biden to cancel studebt debt rather than “waiting to rise up the ranks.”
