Doggett, Lloyd, 1946-

Variant names

Dates:

Birth 1946-10-06

Gender:

Male

Nationality: Americans

Language: English

Biographical notes:

Lloyd Alton Doggett II (born October 6, 1946) is an American attorney and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the Texas Senate from 1973 to 1985, as a Justice of the Texas Supreme Court from 1989 to 1994, and as a U.S. Representative from Texas since 1995. His district, numbered as the 35th since 2013, was previously numbered the 10th (1995-2005) and 25th (2005-2013).

Born in Austin, he received B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. Doggett's electoral career began in 1973, when he was elected to the Texas State Senate, a position he held until 1985. In the state senate, he authored 124 state laws, including one which created the Texas Commission on Human Rights to prohibit discrimination, and another called the Texas Sunset Act, which sought greater efficiency and accountability by requiring periodic review of government agencies. In 1984, Doggett was the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate seat vacated by John Tower, but he lost to the Republican candidate, Phil Gramm. In 1989, Doggett became both a justice of the Texas Supreme Court and an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law, his alma mater, serving until his election to Congress.

In 1994, Doggett was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, succeeding 32-year incumbent Jake Pickle. Since first elected to the United States House of Representatives, he has served as a strong defender of Social Security, Medicare, health care, immigration reform, the environment, our veterans, and public education. Since 2018, Doggett has been the only white male Democrat representing Texas in Congress. He is one of the most liberal white Democrats from a Southern district, and one of the most liberal people ever to represent Texas in Congress. David Hawkings of Roll Call described his tax and environmental policies as "muscular progressivism".