Greg Casar Bio
Gregorio Eduardo Casar, known professionally as Greg Casar, is an American politician and activist serving as the U.S. representative for Texas’s 35th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served on the Austin City Council representing District 4 from 2015 to 2022. Casar chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus and is a member of the Squad, the furthest-left faction within the House Democratic Caucus.
Early Life and Background
Gregorio Eduardo Casar was born on May 4, 1989, in Houston, Texas, to two Mexican immigrants, and he was raised as a Catholic. His father worked as a surgeon. He grew up in the Bellaire neighborhood of Houston and attended Strake Jesuit College Preparatory, where he ran track. These early years in a working immigrant household helped shape his later focus on labor rights and immigrant protections.
Casar went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and social thought from the University of Virginia in 2011. While in college, he co-founded Students and Workers United for a Living Wage, a student group that called on the university to pay its workers a living wage. That campus activism marked the beginning of his career as a community organizer and policy advocate.
Path to US Politics
Before running for office, Casar served as policy director for the Workers Defense Project, also known as Proyecto Defensa Laboral. In that role, he won protections for construction workers, including required rest and water breaks, and helped secure living wage and labor provisions in an incentives deal involving Apple. He also led campaigns against wage theft and organized workers across multiple industries.
In 2014, Austin held its first election with geographic single-member districts, and Casar finished first in the District 4 race before winning a runoff against Laura Pressley. That victory launched his career in elected office and set the stage for his later runs for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Greg Casar Career
Early Career (2014–2015)
Casar was elected to the Austin City Council in 2014, becoming the first person to represent District 4. The district is the city’s most diverse, with a majority Latino population, the largest share of young children, and the highest poverty rate among Austin’s ten council districts. By his own estimate, roughly 30 percent of his constituents were undocumented immigrants.
From his first days on the council, Casar focused on affordable housing, paid sick leave, living wage increases, tenant organizing, immigrant rights, and criminal justice reforms. He also served as board chair of Local Progress, a national network of progressive local elected officials.
Austin City Council Breakthrough (2015–2022)
During his time on the council, Casar championed several landmark policies. In 2016, he led efforts to pass Austin’s fair chance hiring ordinance, which made Austin the first city in the Southern United States to ban the box on job applications. He also pushed the council to adopt Freedom City policies that discouraged low-level discretionary arrests, leading to a two-thirds drop in ticket-worthy arrests in the first quarter after passage.
On labor issues, Casar worked with fellow council member Ann Kitchen to raise the minimum wage for City of Austin employees, eventually pushing it to $15 an hour. In 2016, he sponsored a resolution extending the living wage to city contractors and subcontractors, including airport food workers and construction workers. In 2018, he backed a paid sick leave ordinance that covered the entire private sector and provided between six and eight sick days for Austin workers, an ordinance later replicated in San Antonio and Dallas.
On housing, Casar helped pass Proposition A in 2018, a $250 million affordable housing bond that was the largest in Austin’s history. He also authored the Affordability Unlocked ordinance, which waived zoning rules in exchange for reserving 50 percent of new units for low-income residents, and supported reforms that legalized more accessory dwelling units across the city. Casar was reelected to the council in 2016 and again in 2020.
U.S. House of Representatives Era (2023–Present)
Casar announced his campaign for Texas’s 35th congressional district on November 4, 2021, and resigned from the council on February 4, 2022. He won the Democratic primary on March 1, 2022, with about 60 percent of the vote, earning endorsements from Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In the November 8, 2022 general election, he defeated Republican nominee Dan McQueen with 73 percent of the vote.
Since taking office in 2023, Casar has continued to focus on labor, housing, and criminal justice reform. He was among 46 House Democrats who voted against the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 and led a nine-hour thirst strike in July 2023 to protest a Texas law that overrode local heat protection ordinances. He also chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus and sits among the Squad of six other progressive House Democrats. On August 25, 2025, he announced he would seek reelection in the newly drawn 37th district.
Notable Events and Milestones
Casar’s career-defining moments include his role in passing Austin’s paid sick leave ordinance, his leadership of the $250 million Proposition A affordable housing bond, and his successful 2022 congressional campaign that made him one of the most progressive members ever to represent Texas in Congress.
Greg Casar Career Wins
Greg Casar has built a record of policy victories at both the city and federal levels. His wins include raising the Austin city employee minimum wage to $15 an hour, expanding living wage rules to contractors, and passing a paid sick leave ordinance for private-sector workers. He has also led major criminal justice reforms and reallocated significant police funding toward housing, mental health, and violence prevention programs.
Congressional Election Highlights
Casar first won his U.S. House seat in 2022, defeating Dan McQueen with 73 percent of the vote. He previously won three Austin City Council elections in 2014, 2016, and 2020. On August 25, 2025, he announced his bid for reelection in the newly drawn 37th congressional district.
Other Wins and Achievements
Beyond elections, Casar’s key achievements include chairing the Congressional Progressive Caucus, helping pass the $250 million affordable housing bond in Austin, leading the Affordability Unlocked ordinance, and co-sponsoring the Ceasefire Now Resolution in October 2023. He also served as board chair of Local Progress.
Greg Casar Family
Family Background and Civic Upbringing
Greg Casar was born to two Mexican immigrants in Houston, Texas, and raised in the Bellaire neighborhood. His father worked as a surgeon, and the family is Catholic. Their working immigrant background informed his lifelong focus on labor rights and immigrant protections.
Personal Life
Greg Casar is married to Asha Dane’el, a philanthropic adviser. The couple lives in Texas, where Casar continues his work in Congress.