Retiring Democrat Lloyd Doggett joins Congressional Freethought Caucus
As he heads out the door, the Texas Democrat is joining the group, which champions reason-based policies and opposes discrimination against atheists
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The Congressional Freethought Caucus just added another member: Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX). But this one comes with an expiration date.
Doggett first entered Congress in 1995 after a long stint in the Texas Senate (1973-1985) and the Texas Supreme Court (1989-1994). After Republicans further gerrymandered their state last year, and after those maps were upheld in court, Doggett announced he’d retire once his term ended rather than run in a primary battle against fellow Rep. Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Doggett was also the first House Democrat to call on President Joe Biden to step down from his re-election bid after his disastrous debate in 2024. He sits on the House Ways and Means committee, where he chairs the subcommittee on Health. He’s also a member of both the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Congressional Equality Caucus.
Like most of his colleagues in the CFC, Doggett is religious. The Pew Research Center, in their 2025 roundup, listed him as a Methodist. Still, he supports church/state separation and pledges to protect freedom of religion for everyone (including the non-religious).
The caucus now includes a record 36 members, all of whom are Democrats.
In case you need a refresher, the CFC was first announced in 2018 by Rep. Jared Huffman, currently the only openly Humanist member of Congress.
The 36 members now include:
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) (Co-cha)
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) (Co-chair)
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI)
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN)
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA)
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)
Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL)
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.)
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA)
Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA)
Rep. Julia Brownley (D-CA)
Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-CA)
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX)
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA)
Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL)
Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT)
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX)
Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA)
Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-OR)
Rep. Emily Randall (D-WA)
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ)
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY)
Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA)
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL)
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR)
Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA)
Rep. Kelly Morrison (D-MN)
Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE)
Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA)
Rep. Herb Conaway (D-NJ)
Rep. Val Hoyle (D-OR)
Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-CA)
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)
(Eric Swalwell was a member of the CFC until his recent resignation.)
To be clear, this isn’t an “atheist club” for Congress, as some critics have suggested. This is just a group of lawmakers dedicated to promoting reason-based public policy, keeping church and state separate, opposing discrimination against non-religious people, and championing freedom of thought around the world. There’s really no reason anyone should be against this. That’s why there’s nothing hypocritical about the fact that nearly every member of the Caucus is religious.
The hope is that the membership continues growing—making the Caucus more influential—while the stigma of being an atheist (or even being associated with non-religiosity) decreases across the country. Those two things are more closely linked than we might imagine. Keep in mind that the Congressional Prayer Caucus, which typically promotes a version of conservative Christianity, is much larger and has members from both major parties. By that metric, the Freethought Caucus has a long way to go.
As I’ve said before, perhaps the most shocking thing about the Caucus is that, based on the relative lack of media interest, people don’t seem to care who the members are… which is to say, no one—not even in right-wing media—thinks it’s a big deal for sitting House members to align with a group defending atheists.
That also means none of these lawmakers believes the Caucus will be a concern for them during the second Trump administration. That may come as a shock to anyone who remembers a time when aligning (even remotely) with atheism was considered one of the biggest taboos in politics.
(Portions of this article were published earlier)
"The caucus now includes a record 36 members, all of whom are Democrats."
Unfortunately, dwarfed the the Congressional Epstein Caucus, all of whom are Republicans.
Another name for the "Congressional Freethought Caucus" could be the "Support The First Amendment Caucus". That's why Republicans don't want to join, they prefer the "Protect The Second Amendment Caucus"