We recap the wild week in Texas politics. Grab a coldie and hang! Learn more about us at ProgressTexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:No Kings events, happening nationally tomorrow, include at least 40 across Texas: https://www.nokings.org/#map...Governor Greg Abbott has again activated the Texas National Guard against the second No Kings event, specifically targeting Austin, and calling the rally a "planned Antifa-linked demonstration": https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/16/texas-greg-abbott-national-guard-no-kings-protest-austin/...Austin Mayor Kirk Watson says he has been assured that Guard troops will not be deployed to Austin's streets absent "an emergency need" and reminds attendees to avoid violence or destructive behavior: https://x.com/KirkPWatson/status/1978955848744419333...Ted Cruz alleges that No Kings is funded by George Soros and that RICO charges should be brought against its organizers: https://www.chron.com/politics/article/no-kings-protests-ted-cruz-21103845.php...The first use of the term "Antifa" in a federal criminal court case arrives as two Dallas-area men are charged with supporting terrorism: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-prosecutors-bring-first-antifa-terrorism-charges-texas-police-shooting-case-2025-10-16/It's almost time to vote! Check out our 2025 Texas Statewide Voting Guide, including a link at the bottom for a printable version you CAN take with you to the polls: https://progresstexas.org/blog/2025-texas-statewide-ballot-guideHouston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
No shortage of chaos to cover with Congresswoman Julie Johnson, between the federal government shutdown, the continued desperate GOP dodging of the Epstein files, the new congressional map designed to draw her out of the picture - and now, a Qatari military base on U.S. soil? We're truly in a WTF moment, and we're glad to have Rep. Johnson in D.C. to help fight back.Learn more about Congresswoman Julie Johnson at https://juliejohnson.house.gov/.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how YOU can help support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Further rollbacks of the Voting Rights Act, under consideration now by the U.S. Supreme Court, could largely wipe out minority-majority congressional districts in Texas - potentially reducing the presence of Texas Democrats in the U.S. House to 3: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas-take/article/supreme-court-weighs-future-voting-rights-act-21102774.php...CD-18 candidate and Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee has sued the Trump administration, seeking restoration of $59 million in solar benefits for Houston area families: https://www.houstonpress.com/news/houston-news/harris-county-wants-7-billion-solar-program-restored/Applications for FEMA assistance from Kerr County - very much Trump country - have largely been denied or slow-walked, as the vast majority remain without help over 100 days past the July 4 flood: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/16/texas-floods-fema-aid-kerr-county-nonprofits/...Several of the summer camps in the area say that new safety requirements imposed after the deaths of dozens of children in that flood are too costly: https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/politics/lone-star-politics/summer-camps-request-flood-safety-measures-delay/3932075/One of UT Austin's most famous professors - a co-host of NPR's "Two Guys On Your Head" show - has been fired over "ideological differences": https://www.axios.com/local/austin/2025/10/15/university-of-texas-mark-artman...Also at UT, massive opposition from alumni and faculty to the "compact" that has been offered to the university by Donald Trump: https://thedailytexan.com/2025/10/15/against-what-i-thought-ut-stood-for-alumni-faculty-express-opposition-to-trump-proposed-compact/No Kings events, happening nationally on Saturday, include at least 40 across Texas: https://www.nokings.org/#map...Republicans are hard at work smearing No Kings attendees in advance as ultra-radical, card-carrying Antifa members: https://www.reddit.com/r/democrats/comments/1o7tbo0/supercut_of_comments_from_republicans_today_alone/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_buttonIt's almost time to vote! Check out our 2025 Texas Statewide Voting Guide, including a link at the bottom for a printable version you CAN take with you to the polls: https://progresstexas.org/blog/2025-texas-statewide-ballot-guideHouston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:The widespread buzz that Austin State Rep. Gina Hinojosa has been planning a gubernatorial run turns out correct - she announced her run for Governor this morning: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/15/gina-hinojosa-texas-governor-campaign-launch-2026-greg-abbott/...We presented the first full-length interview after Hinojosa's announcement earlier today: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-233-rep-gina-hinojosa-announces-run-for-governor/id1552998795?i=1000731974425The Houston Chronicle Editorial Board, noting that a judge has cast serious doubt on Donald Trump's justification for militarizing Chicago, advises Governor Abbott to bring the Texas National Guard troops he sent there back home: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/texas-national-guard-illinois-lie-abbott-trump-21098977.php...Interestingly, the Oregon National Guard is sending a detachment to Texas - not as a counter-invasion, but as border logistics support: https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/14/oregon-national-guard-heads-to-texas-border/Airports in Dallas, Austin and San Antonio are declining to run a video of Trump Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blaming Democrats for the federal government shutdown on Democrats in their TSA security areas: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/14/texas-airports-kristi-noem-tsa-video-government-shutdown/...That Noem video may be a violation of the Hatch Act: https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/14/us/kristi-noem-video-airportsNo Kings events, happening nationally on Saturday, include at least 40 across Texas: https://www.nokings.org/#mapIt's almost time to vote! Check out our 2025 Texas Statewide Voting Guide, including a link at the bottom for a printable version you CAN take with you to the polls: https://progresstexas.org/blog/2025-texas-statewide-ballot-guideHouston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
We've been fans of Austin State Rep. Gina Hinojosa for a long time, and have been proud to feature her on our podcast on multiple occasions - for THIS occasion, it's a conversation about her run for Governor of Texas in 2026, just announced today!Learn more about Rep. Gina Hinojosa's campaign at https://ginafortexas.com/.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:President Barack Obama appeared on the final episode of comedian Marc Maron's "WTF" podcast, heaping praise on Austin State Rep. and Senate Candidate James Talarico, and taking issue with Governor Greg Abbott's deployment of Texas troops to Chicago, considering Abbott's freakout over Jade Helm in 2015: https://deadline.com/2025/10/barack-obama-wtf-final-episode-1236583585/...Some of those Texas troops have been sent back home after apparently being found too fat for duty by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/hegseth-national-guard-overweight-troops-chicago-b2844960.htmlAs a panel of El Paso judges considers that new Texas congressional map, it's notable that lawyers for the state tried throughout to conceal as much as they could about its drawing process - and that the guy who drew it 100% ignored public testimony against the redraw: https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/in-a-federal-courtroom-in-texas-republicans-were-desperate-to-keep-details-of-their-gerrymander-under-wraps/...Meanwhile North Carolina becomes the next Republican state to consider gerrymandering itself for Trump: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxydpr1zz2oThe number of kindergarteners showing up for school without the basic state-required measles vaccination is skyrocketing: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/13/texas-schools-vaccines-measles-delinquencies/Helena Moreno, who was elected mayor of New Orleans last weekend, has extensive ties to Texas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_MorenoIt's almost time to vote! Check out our 2025 Texas Statewide Voting Guide, including a link at the bottom for a printable version you CAN take with you to the polls: https://progresstexas.org/blog/2025-texas-statewide-ballot-guideHouston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Ballotpedia counts a total of sixteen candidates who have declared runs for the historic 18th Congressional District in Houston, seeking to be the next to fill a seat once held by the legendary Barbara Jordan, more recently by the beloved and departed Sheila Jackson Lee and Sylvester Turner, and shamefully held vacant by Governor Greg Abbott since Turner's untimely death last March. We present here conversations with four of the leading Democrats in the race, and you can find out about the rest of those running here: https://ballotpedia.org/Texas%27_18th_Congressional_District_special_election,_2025Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Ten Democratic U.S House members have demanded that Governor Greg Abbott withdraw Texas National Guard troops that he has sent to Illinois and Oregon on the orders of Donald Trump: https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/politics/2025/10/09/texas-lawmakers-oppose-guard-use-in-out-of-state-policing/86572196007/...Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker notes that Republican Governors Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma and Phil Scott of Vermont have both also expressed opposition to the Texas deployment to other states: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5551994-pritzker-gop-troop-deployment/...A federal appeals court has halted the deployment of Texas National Guard troops into Chicago, but has stopped short of ordering them back to Texas: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/appeals-court-rejects-trump-request-deploy-national-guard-chicago-area-2025-10-11/The hearing over the map resulting from the Trump-ordered redistricting of Texas in El Paso ended on Friday and is now under consideration by a panel of three judges: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2025/10/10/political-or-racial-three-takeaways-from-federal-hearing-on-new-tx-congressional-map/...The judges may be annoyed as their review of the case begins with the evasiveness of several defense witnesses: https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/new-details-emerge-in-federal-court-about-texas-secretive-redistricting-map/A 30-year veteran professor at UT Austin writes that with conservative attacks on academic freedom lately, she barely recognizes the place: https://www.statesman.com/opinion/columns/your-voice/article/opinion-35-years-ut-austin-hardly-recognize-21089836.phpHouston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
The staff, and special guest Julio Salinas, vent at the end of a long week that consisted of Texas-sized problems: from Gov. Abbott sending Texas National Guard troops to Illinois to Ken Paxton's ego, and threat as the top lawyer and candidate in 2026. Plus, what's concerning us and what's keeping us hopeful in these busy, chaotic times.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay of execution for Robert Roberson, who would have become the first person in the US put to death in a shaken baby syndrome case: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/09/robert-roberson-execution-blocked-texas-court-of-criminal-appeals...A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Texas National Guard deployment in Chicago: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/08/texas-national-guard-abbott-deployment-chicago/... Governor Abbott is apparently using this deployment to fundraise for his 2026 re-election campaign: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/greg-abbott-texas-national-guard-fundraising-21090617.php...A new poll from the University of Houston and Texas Southern University shows that Texas Democratic Senate candidates within small margin of Republicans: https://www.newsweek.com/james-talaricos-chances-against-gop-candidates-texas-senate-race-poll-10855949...The State Republican Executive Committee will convene on Saturday as part of the Texas GOP's push to block Republican lawmakers from the ballot: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/09/texas-republican-lawsuit-ken-paxton-close-primaries/...Travis County Commissioners have approved two contracts to use voter-approved taxpayer money that will help the county create more affordable child care: https://www.kxan.com/news/local/travis-county/travis-co-commissioners-set-to-approve-millions-in-child-care-funding/Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Texas Blue Action and Powered By People - already two of the Lone Star State's most prominent powerhouses in progressive voter activation and grassroots organizing - have announced a merger of Powered by People's voter registration program with Texas Blue Action's relational organizing network. Executive Director and Progress Texas podcast regular Lana Hansen brings us the details on the formation of a truly unprecedented super-org, designed to drag Texas progressives to the polls en masse!Learn more: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/themergerThanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how to support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Protesters are beginning to mass in Chicago in anticipation of the arrival of National Guard troops, hundreds of whom have come to their city from Texas: https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/08/texas-national-guard-broadview-illinois...A federal judge in Illinois will consider a restraining order against the troop deployment today: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/federal-court-weigh-trumps-deployment-national-guard-troops-126354288...A new list of companies under the title "Governor Abbott Boycott" is circulating in response to our state's meddling in the affairs of other states: https://www.chron.com/culture/article/national-guard-deployment-boycott-21090650.phpThe Texas congressional delegation remains neatly divided by party on the federal government shutdown, which now enters its second week: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2025/10/08/texas-lawmakers-dig-in-as-shutdown-rolls-into-second-week/The author of the new Texas congressional map testified yesterday that with the 2021 map, he had been told to leave certain minority-majority districts alone - but not on the new map: https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/top-gop-mapmaker-describes-a-texas-gerrymander-ordered-up-by-washington/...An attorney for U.S. Reps Jasmine Crockett and Al Green pressed that same mapmaker on his knowledge that he was manipulating districts full of voters of color: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2025/10/08/lawyer-for-jasmine-crockett-says-drawer-of-new-texas-district-maps-knew-they-discriminated/Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to withhold state road maintenance money from major Texas cities if they don't remove rainbow crosswalks painted in solidarity with their LGBTQ+ citizens: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2025/10/08/abbott-orders-dallas-and-other-texas-cities-to-remove-rainbow-crosswalks-or-lose-funding/Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
We're joined today by Adrian Shelley and Cassidy Levin of the national watchdog group Public Citizen, who have uncovered a massive and years-long apparent pay-to-play scheme in which large-dollar donors to Governor Greg Abbott's campaign finance PAC appear to have been rewarded with very large, and in some cases, dubiously documented, state contracts - a situation that, while legal under Texas law, clearly raises considerable ethics questions.Learn more about Public Citizen's Texas office at https://www.citizen.org/article/about-the-public-citizen-texas-office/.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued a press release regarding a new escalation his office plans to execute against "transgenderism and Antifa", long on right-wing belligerence and short on actual facts: https://www.keranews.org/news/2025-10-07/ag-ken-paxton-announces-undercover-operations-of-leftist-terror-cellsHouston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Around 200 National Guard troops from Texas have been deployed to Chicago over the protests of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, ostensibly to back up ICE agents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WRl6UUwYGI...Trump's pretext is a countering of "rebellion against the federal government": https://www.keranews.org/texas-news/2025-10-06/texas-national-guard-trump-illinois-abbott-pritzkerCongressman Wesley Hunt has jumped into the U.S. Senate race officially, compounding an already considerable mess for the GOP: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2025/10/06/the-gops-texas-senate-mess-00595553During the El Paso trial over the new Texas congressional map, State Senator Phil King yesterday suddenly remembered a conversation with Adam Kincaid about race being considered in its design: https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/in-testimony-top-texas-republican-remembers-another-conversation-with-gop-mapmaker/Professors at Texas Tech have begun to worry that vague instructions from their MAGA leadership about what and what not to discuss in class have begun to undermine the quality of their teaching: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/07/texas-tech-university-system-faculty-gender-identity/A New York-based company, employing at least two Texas GOP operatives, has been awarded a lucrative contract to oversee Texas' new private school voucher program: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/odyssey-texas-private-school-voucher-21087243.phpHouston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Governor Greg Abbott approved a request by Donald Trump to deploy Texas National Guard troops into both Chicago and Portland, Oregon, under the pretext of protecting ICE agents from Antifa: https://youtu.be/8QFKsX1s_lM?si=Xa-pRwaY6YGgoQ0S...A Trump-appointed federal judge has temporarily blocked that move: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5540272-donald-trump-blocked-oregon-guard/California's Prop 50, with which that state's voters will decide whether or not to counter-gerrymander their state against Texas, has seen recent lobbying by Fort Worth State Rep. Nicole Collier in San Francisco: https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/prop-50-fundraising-21066129.phpTexas LGBTQ+ students and their families face multiple obstacles as they try to continue their social groups in spite of new state laws banning them: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/us/politics/texas-lgbtq-schools.htmlTexas is second only to Florida in the number of books we've banned from our school libraries - here are five of the dumbest new picks: https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/dumbest-books-texas-schools-banned-last-year-40602086/Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Yet another chaotic political week (should we say, typically chaotic?) ends this Friday afternoon with our regular roundtable pod. How the Democrats can have the edge with the federal shutdown, what's at stake and what to understand about the court fight over the new state congressional map, a conversation with a new key player in the RGV and more - the staff breaks down another wild week in Texas politics.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can help support our work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:The Trump administration has offered the University of Texas access to enhanced federal funding - if it agrees to a set of conditions that will accelerate the MAGA-fication of the 40 Acres: https://thedailytexan.com/2025/10/02/ut-system-to-review-proposal-from-trump-administration/...Academic experts see the adoption of this Trump "compact" as a dramatic capitulation to federal control: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/us/politics/trump-college-funding.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qU8.UTOI._IZAaVHmIUAQ&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShareAttorney General Ken Paxton and other GOP types are up in arms about accusations that TCU has cancelled a Turning Point event featuring an anti-trans activist - the school says it was never booked to begin with: https://www.keranews.org/texas-news/2025-10-02/texas-ag-paxton-to-investigate-tcu-over-turning-point-event-school-says-was-not-bookedThe Texas Supreme Court has decided that it will oversee Texas' law schools - instead of the nationally-established American Bar Association: https://www.tpr.org/news/2025-10-02/texas-supreme-court-breaks-with-american-bar-association-over-law-school-credentialsDisgraced megachurch pastor Robert Morris has pled guilty to multiple sex crimes against children - but he'll only serve 6 months in jail: https://apnews.com/article/texas-megachurch-pastor-sexual-abuse-oklahoma-0ca16aa31d9d8e5a810d1e1e3483dce4...Morris' victim says he didn't have the courage to face her and her family in the courtroom: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/video/victim-speaks-exclusively-to-cbs-news-texas-after-gateway-church-founder-pleads-guilty-to-child-abus/Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:As the second day of the federal shutdown begins, progressives and Democrats must remind themselves and others that it represents a last stand for affordable healthcare, and a stand against the destructive agenda of Donald Trump: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTM6Wvbc5/...Should the Dems cave, as many as 1 million Texans may find themselves priced out of health insurance altogether: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/02/texas-republicans-affordable-care-act-premium-tax-credits-shutdown/...Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer may have recently grown a spine as a result of pressure from the likes of Beto O'Rourke: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas-take/article/democrats-beto-o-rourke-chuck-schumer-21078866.phpEl Paso State Rep. Joe Moody and Houston State Senator Carol Alvarado testified yesterday during the first day of the trial over the new Texas congressional map - while nobody appears to know who drew it? https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/01/texas-congressional-redistricting-map-federal-court/Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
The major turn towards Donald Trump by Texas Latino voters, especially those in South Texas, serves as a painful memory and a fearsome harbinger of what might be in store in the 2026 midterms. A major momentum shift would come in handy for South Texas Democrats - and one may have arrived in the form of Tejano music star Bobby Pulido, who has recently announced a run as a Democrat for the U.S. Congress, challenging incumbent Republican Monica de la Cruz.Learn more about Bobby Pulido and his run for Congress at https://bobbypulidofortexas.com/.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
In a federal court in El Paso, as of this morning, a trio of judges have begun considering whether the state of Texas can use the new congressional map - ordered by Donald Trump and eventually passed during a pair of highly contentious special legislative sessions - in the 2026 election. We're fortunate to have the expert legal view of attorneys Louis Bedford IV and Jason Smith, members of Progress Texas' boards, as this all-important legal procedure gets underway.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Democrats in the U.S. House hold the line against the gutting of healthcare, as Republicans skip town - thus, a federal shutdown has begun: https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-democrats-republicans-trump-fight-c4949dace66c18d6099b5e23fd98b049...Reactions from Texas House Democrats, including El Paso's Veronica Escobar: https://x.com/RepEscobar/status/1973094484549177360?t=FQgnQH1kE5xW2fyhKK9JCg&s=03...Dallas' Marc Veasey: https://x.com/RepVeasey/status/1973132078221778992?t=NJdRbi6jJ6LPtRkA7BhVcA&s=03...Houston's Lizzie Fletcher: https://x.com/RepFletcher/status/1973147095885554004?t=aGRrGrJxec393f00LRu6_w&s=03...San Antonio's Joaquin Castro: https://x.com/JoaquinCastrotx/status/1973139890939502813?t=8solSSLz8aNURDhFAiljHQ&s=03...What does a federal shutdown mean for us here in Texas? https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/01/government-shutdown-texas-congress-benefits-parks-veterans/A federal hearing on whether or not the new Trump-ordered Texas congressional district map is constitutional begins today in El Paso: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2025/09/30/federal-hearing-on-new-texas-congressional-map-begins-wednesday-in-el-paso/...How we got here, starting back in May: https://www.tpr.org/government-politics/2025-09-30/the-texas-gerrymandering-trial-begins-how-we-got-hereHouston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
In a matter of weeks, North Texas voters have the chance to flip a Texas Senate seat from red to blue, and provide another vote for sanity in a chamber dominated by the nonsense of Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. Union president, veteran, and working class public education champion Taylor Rehmet is running against two far-right MAGA Republicans in the special election to fill a vacancy left by Republican Kelly Hancock's move to the Texas Comptroller's Office. Taylor spoke with our Executive Director Kathleen Thompson about his public policy priorities including affordable heath care, education, protecting Texas veterans, and this paramount opportunity—in a competitive district—where recent local election voters sent a clear message that they're done with MAGA extremism. Make sure your friends and family in Senate District 9 (Bedford, Fort Worth, Keller, North Richland Hills, etc.) know early voting begins October 20 and Election Day is November 4.How to get involved in Taylor's campaign: https://www.taylorfortx.comProgress Texas' voting information resource GoVoteTexas.org assists voters in navigating election deadlines, polling locations, and the current status of the state's changing voter ID laws in 5 languages: English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi! https://govotetexas.org/
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Governor Abbott faces multiple issues that could make him vulnerable in 2026, including his inconsistencies related to on-campus free speech: https://www.texasobserver.org/greg-abbott-free-speech-charlie-kirk-universities/...His engineering of attacks on public school teachers who failed to sufficiently grieve the death of Charlie Kirk: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/30/texas-investigation-teachers-charlie-kirk-free-speech/?_bhlid=29b43cb8833938b9d33be0c7e1d0dbf7be829e1f...And a growing "pay to pay" scandal, in which Abbott has apparently channeled almost $1 billion (with a B) in no-bid state contracts to companies whose executive have made large contributions to his campaign fund: https://www.newsbreak.com/raw-story-2096750/4254968215000-pay-to-play-donors-to-texas-gov-s-pac-received-nearly-1-billion-in-state-contracts...Could Austin State Rep. Gina Hinojosa be next to throw in to challenge Abbott? https://www.axios.com/local/austin/2025/09/26/gina-hinojosa-austin-democrat-campaign-texas-governorEven as they run ICE recruitment commercials on ESPN, Disney has taken a massive financial hit as a result of the Jimmy Kimmel suspension from ABC: https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/disney-reportedly-lost-17-million-paid-subscribers-in-the-week-after-suspending-kimmel-201615937.html...Disney shareholders and journalists are demanding internal records on how the Kimmel suspension was decided, potentially resulting in lawsuits: https://deadline.com/2025/09/kimmel-disney-shareholders-deadline-legal-threat-1236565674/Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:The new Texas congressional district map, ordered by Donald Trump to cut his expected U.S. House losses in next year's election, is set to be considered by federal judges in El Paso starting Wednesday: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/redistricting-fight-texas-congressional-maps-courtroom-determine-constitutional/Could there be a THIRD special legislative session in Texas? Property taxes could be the excuse this time for Texas Republicans to ramp up their culture war on Texas colleges: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/be-for-real/id1840051875?i=1000729093370...MAGA attacks on Texas higher education has been at a fever pitch in recent weeks, including new orders at the Texas Tech system against any mention at all in classes of gender identity: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/26/texas-tech-university-system-transgender-identity-restrictions/Agriculture Commissioner and outspoken DEI opponent Sid Miller wrote a letter to UT Austin on behalf of a Latina student they had denied admission, appealing to their DEI mission: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/29/sid-miller-dei-letter-university-of-texas/An Anson man has been jailed for threatening to shoot up a Pride parade in Abilene, out of revenge for the assassination of Charlie Kirk: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/video/texas-man-accused-of-threatening-to-shoot-at-local-pride-event-arrested-by-fbi/#xDid you notice ICE recruitment ads on ESPN while watching college football this weekend? All the more reason to cut ties with Disney, as they undercut local law enforcement agencies: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-09-06/ice-recruitment-law-enforcement-commercialHouston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Our weekly staff roundtable covers the strife within the Texas Democratic Party over a shakeup of office locations, as Trump and Co. once again try to capitalize on another apparently political shooting, this one on an ICE facility in Dallas. We continue looking for the light amidst dark times indeed - but stick with us, we will find our way out.Thanks for listening! Join the fight for progress in the Lone Star State at https://progresstexas.org/donate.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Federal and state authorities, who were quick to characterize Wednesday's shooting that killed or wounded three suspected undocumented immigrants as an attack on the ICE agents who had rounded them up, say they have found writings at the home of the suspected shooter confirming that he was targeting ICE: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/24/dallas-ICE-shooting-fatalities/...He is said to have acquired the rifle he used legally last month, and did not expect to survive the shooting: https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/joshua-jahns-handwritten-notes-revealed-plan-of-terror-40600292/...Journalist Ken Klippenstein believes the shooter was a product of a growing "irony bro" culture: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/the-ice-shooters-motivePublic Citizen has uncovered a "pay to play" scheme, under which big dollar donors to Governor Greg Abbott were awarded almost $1 billion in no-bid contracts over the last four years: https://www.citizen.org/news/public-citizen-report-abbott-donors-draw-nearly-1-billion-in-no-bid-state-contracts/The Texas Latino vote will be crucial in next year's mid-term election - and Texas Republicans are planning huge spending in pursuit of those votes: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/elections/2025/09/25/531917/texas-gop-set-to-push-back-on-democratic-organization-efforts-by-targeting-hispanic-voters/Christian Nationalist crusader David Barton has been appointed by the Texas State Board of Education as an expert advisor on new plans to refocus social studies curriculum towards U.S. history: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/24/texas-sboe-social-studies-standards-david-barton/Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
An article posted by the Texas Tribune this morning alleges that a recent reorganization of office structure and locations at the Texas Democratic Party, including the relocation of its headquarters from Austin to Dallas, has led to staff shakeups that may undermine the party's efforts related to the 2026 midterm elections. Noting that all of those quoted in the story were done so in anonymity, we've invited Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder to give us an update from his perspective, and we also extend an invitation to those unnamed sources to speak with us, on the record.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how to support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Donald Trump and MAGA have rushed to blame the latest incident of gun violence in Dallas, in which three ICE detainees were shot and one has died...on the left? https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/24/dallas-ICE-shooting-fatalities/?_bhlid=0df430cf0996f8c2bbdc882fc4c66808a4e09676...The shooter, who appears to have been much more interested in marijuana and video games than politics, doesn't fit the profile of either a left- or right-wing activist: https://time.com/7320384/ice-shooting-joshua-jahn-sniper-dallas/Thousands and thousands of Texas voter registrations remain unprocessed, just days from the October 6 deadline, due to a statewide software glitch: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/25/texas-voter-registration-system-TEAM-county-election-officials/The Texas Republican Party has invited ten of its own elected State Representatives to defend themselves against charges that they have fallen short of the MAGA agenda, ahead of a vote that could remove them from the ballot next year: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/texas-gop-censure-dustin-burrows-21063724.phpHouston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Nexstar Media Group joined the Sinclair Broadcast Group in blacking out the return of Jimmy Kimmel Live to ABC last night, denying the show to viewers in both the Lubbock and Midland areas - we encourage you to voice your concerns with the companies that advertise on those stations: https://www.nexstar.tv/stations/...Nexstar and Sinclair control about a quarter of the ABC affiliates across the country - thus, viewers in major cities including Washington D.C., Seattle, St. Louis, Portland Oregon, New Orleans and others were blacked out as well: https://www.axios.com/2025/09/23/jimmy-kimmel-return-sinclair-nexstar-abcJimmy Kimmel's full opening monologue from last night: https://youtu.be/aTZjo42xRH4?si=Td_SK0mWhbHjZn1jLawyers for the state of Texas, looking to undermine the arguments of opponents of the new Trump-ordered congressional map that it was done on a basis of race (as the Trump DOJ has asserted), are now saying that motive was "a mistake" - but that they want to keep the new map anyway: https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/texas-officially-walks-back-justification-for-redistricting-throws-doj-under-bus/The ACLU has sued 14 Texas school districts over the new Ten Commandments law: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/texas-families-sue-over-ten-commandments-classroom-law/Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Jimmy Kimmel returns to the airwaves tonight, but the Sinclair Broadcast Group says they still won't run his show: https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/22/entertainment/jimmy-kimmel-returning...Find your town's Sinclair station here: https://sbgi.net/tv-stations/Even within Republican circles, the attacks on free speech to avenge Charlie Kirk are becoming too ironic to swallow: https://www.expressnews.com/politics/article/charlie-kirk-free-speech-gop-21053192.php...Similarly, Texas Christian leaders are getting fed up with stories of adultery coming from Ken Paxton's marriage: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/ken-paxton-gop-primary-divorce-21049167.phpMore and more data shows that the Trump-ordered redistricting of Texas may have been designed around faulty assumptions about Latino loyalty to the GOP: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cnn-harry-enten-trump-texas-republicans-redistricting-latinos_n_68cc06a5e4b0aa8d99fe7dca...Analyst Steven Weintraub is seeing similar signs in the tea leaves: https://stevenweintraub.substack.com/p/did-democrats-actually-win-redistricting?utm_medium=emailHouston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
A troubling number of U.S. House Democrats - including Reps Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez - voted Friday to honor Charlie Kirk, a notorious promoter of racist views: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/119-2025/h282The same weekend as a large memorial event for Kirk in Arizona, Texas Republicans attended the Texas Youth Summit in The Woodlands, where they attempted to further radicalize Kirk's grieving fans: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/2025/09/20/531467/republican-representatives-call-youth-to-action-at-charlie-kirk-tribute-in-the-woodlands/...Resistance is building against the push by Governor Greg Abbott and others to silence Texas college students who choose not to lionize Kirk: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/22/texas-free-speech-college-campus-charlie-kirk-greg-abbott/?_bhlid=4a9636c9afe8b0572ffda1819115a6e7d1f10ae7...Senator Ted Cruz, in a rare moment of clarity, says FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's threats against ABC resemble those of a mob boss - of course, he's mainly worried about future censorship of the right: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2025/09/19/ted-cruz-says-fcc-chair-sounded-like-a-mafia-boss-in-threats-against-abc-over-jimmy-kimmel/Perhaps surprisingly, a conversation between Joe Rogan and Matthew McConaughey finds Rogan opposing the posting of the Ten Commandments in Texas classrooms, and McConaughey supporting the new law: https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/politics/article/joe-rogan-matthew-mcconaughey-21052729.phpHouston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
The staff needs a weekend bad after a week that has seen Jimmy Kimmel shown the door and massive attacks on free speech on college campuses and elsewhere as MAGA exploits the Charlie Kirk assassination to its fullest advantage. Progressive America awaits what's next from Trump, as action against "Antifa" appears primed to be an excuse to target anyone they choose. Freaky times indeed - and we're glad you're here with us in opposition.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Donald Trump has declared war on "Antifa", which isn't an actual organization - so what does his declaration actually mean? https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-targets-antifa-movement-terrorist-organization-2025-09-18/The push by the press to unseal the Ken Paxton divorce records has grown to include a broad array of news media outlets: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/angela-ken-paxton-divorce-seal-21053528.phpAs the school year hits its stride, growing numbers of Texas parents are finally clueing in that Bluebonnet Learning may be teaching their kids Bible lessons - some of questionable theological legitimacy: https://youtu.be/aky6oCEV9sk?si=XGIgibSy_JKPypOpThe Texas GOP's idea to close their primary is a bad move for democracy and a bad look for Texas: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2025/09/18/texas-gops-closed-primary-plan-is-bad-for-our-state/An unusually high degree of turnover is expected to result from the 2026 election - which, regardless of party control, represents a drain of institutional power for the Lone Star State: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/texas-congressional-delegation-midst-shakeup-21053185.phpHouston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:The suspension of Jimmy Kimmel's show by ABC for criticizing MAGA for politically exploiting the murder of Charlie Kirk proves Kimmel's own point: https://www.vox.com/politics/461887/jimmy-kimmel-suspension-air-abc-charlie-kirk-nexstar...That same outrage machine is ramping up a targeting of transgender Americans - Amarillo Congressman Ronny Jackson believes they should all be rounded up: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ronny-jackson-newsmax-trans-people-b2828571.html...All while Governor Abbott, who oversees an economy equivalent to the 8th largest in the world, has the time to target a Seguin teacher for calling Kirk's death "karma" - further proving Kimmel's point: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/greg-abbott-teacher-charlie-kirk-21053442.phpTejano star Bobby Pulido, as expected, has announced a run for Congress in CD-15, challenging Republican Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/17/bobby-pulido-launches-texas-congress-campaign/Houston families are cowering in fear as ICE raids ramp up in Texas' largest and most diverse city - as public support for immigration has grown significantly: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/houston-ice-raid-police-fear-immigrants-hpd-scotus-21042697.phpHouston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Attorney General Ken Paxton's lawsuit against Beto O'Rourke and Powered By People, accusing them of bribery and other campaign finance violations, appears to be near defeat in court: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/17/ken-paxton-beto-orourke-texas-democrats-quorum-break-15th-court/?_bhlid=a0e58d7d33f7fdf5a4ed837802f072ff1560ec84Andrew White, son of former Democratic Texas Governor Mark White, is considering a second crack at the job: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/abbott-white-governor-race-21051521.phpHouston residents have been being buzzed by low-flying military helicopters this week in a joint exercise between the Houston Police Department and the Trump-rebranded "Department Of War": https://www.chron.com/news/article/military-helicopters-houston-21050797.phpA second Black Texas college student has been expelled from school for expressing a lack of support for Charlie Kirk on campus: https://www.kvue.com/video/news/state/texas-state-university-student-expelled-mocking-charlie-kirk-death/269-ff2b7021-ccd8-4518-823a-e377dae048ce...The American Freedmen Legal Fund notes that, just as the UT Austin crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrators last year did, this wave of Abbott-spurred college expulsions violates the governor's own Executive Order GA-42, which protects unpopular expression on Texas college campuses: https://x.com/realAFLF/status/1968089395074044401/photo/1An important factor to consider for upcoming elections: Texas has been found, for the second year in a row, to be the second-most-diverse state in the country: https://wallethub.com/edu/most-least-diverse-states-in-america/38262...While the new Trump-ordered congressional map appears to rely on low Latino turnout: https://www.ksat.com/news/texas/2025/09/17/texas-gop-may-be-banking-on-low-hispanic-turnout-in-new-map/Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-Town Hits Back live podcast taping event! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/houston2025eventThanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Great fun to gather with a big crowd of friends, both old and new, at Hopsquad Brewing Company in North Austin, within eyeshot of Austin FC's home stadium, for a conversation with goalkeeper and celebrated progressive activist Brad Stuver! Thanks to Landon Cotham of the Moontower Soccer podcast for co-hosting.Learn more about the Brad And Ashley Stuver Foundation at https://www.bastuverfoundation.org/.Learn more about Moontower Soccer at https://www.moontowersoccer.com/.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can help support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:The Trump administration, using the Charlie Kirk killing as a reason, is pledging a widespread crackdown on progressive organizations, activist groups and media outlets - much like ours: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/us/politics/jd-vance-charlie-kirk-show.html...A Texas Tech student's arrest and expulsion over her mocking of a Kirk vigil on campus is looking central to a potential First Amendment legal fight: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/texas-tech-student-charlie-kirk-21049660.php...A Texas Education Agency invitation to parents to turn their kids' teachers in for insufficient display of grief over Kirk has resulted in almost 200 such complaints: https://www.click2houston.com/news/texas/2025/09/16/roughly-180-complaints-filed-against-texas-teachers-for-alleged-comments-on-killing-of-charlie-kirk/Today is National Voter Registration Day! Make sure you're good to go for November's election, especially if you've moved lately, at https://govotetexas.org/.Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Comments from Donald Trump on American political violence echo his "stand back and stand by" comments just prior to the January 6 insurrection: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-response-charlie-kirk-melissa-hortman-shootings-rcna230825...Trump also claims that investigations of key progressive figures are already underway: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-adopts-messenger-in-chief-role-after-charlie-kirks-death-2025-09-14/...The first suspect apprehended in the Kirk shooting, later cleared and released, is a North Texas high school graduate - and he and his family are being harassed by MAGA anyway: https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/texas-high-school-graduate-charlie-kirk-killing-21047625.php...The Texas Education Agency has announced a targeting of Texas teachers who failed to sufficiently grieve Charlie Kirk online, while free speech student advocates at UT Austin express fear of violence at future events: https://www.fox7austin.com/news/from-classrooms-campuses-how-kirks-death-is-affecting-texas-educationDetails about the divorce of Ken and Angela Paxton emerge - the AG is accused of having another extramarital affair, with a "Christian influencer" and mother of 7: https://www.sacurrent.com/news/news-report-accuses-texas-ag-ken-paxton-of-affair-with-married-christian-influencer/Austin friends: tickets are now FREE for our live podcast taping with legendary Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver on September 15 at Hopsquad Brewing in Austin! RSVP here: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Proud to welcome Travis County Appraisal District Board Member Sheghao "Daniel" Wang to join our weekly offloading session - one that's a particularly heavy lift this week upon the political assassination of Charlie Kirk. The time is NOW to address the issue of political violence, and get back to being Americans again.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:A suspect has reportedly been apprehended in the shooting death of Charlie Kirk: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09/12/us/charlie-kirk-news-suspectTexas DPS has quietly been very actively assisting ICE in detaining suspected undocumented immigrants, focusing much of their work in Democratically-run large cities: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/12/texas-dps-immigration-arrests-trump-deportation-operation-lone-star/A new UT/Texas Politics Project poll shows sliding numbers for both Donald Trump and Governor Greg Abbott, with both showing net negative approval numbers: https://www.statesman.com/news/article/trump-abbott-approval-ratings-texas-voters-senate-21041119.phpPuzzled by what Texas State Senator's divorce from Attorney General Ken Paxton on "biblical grounds"? So is the watchdog group Campaign For Accountability, who have called for the records of the Paxton divorce to be unsealed: https://www.fox4news.com/news/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-senator-angela-paxton-divorce-recordsDon't miss a terrific shot of Dallas Justice of the Peace Adam Swartz filling his courtroom with bubbles during a wedding ceremony: https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/dallas-judge-bubbliest-wedding-officiant/Austin friends: tickets are now FREE for our live podcast taping with legendary Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver on September 15 at Hopsquad Brewing in Austin! RSVP here: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
The murder of political activist Charlie Kirk on a college campus in Utah was an act of domestic terrorism that tears at the very fabric of our country, and threatens to escalate what is already a highly troublesome degree of political polarity. It should be, and has been, condemned by voices across the political spectrum - but it is also likely to be used as a catalyst or excuse for more political violence by parties uninterested in peace or unity. At Progress Texas, we condemn this horrible crime, pray for Charlie Kirk's family, and expect full justice to be done.Learn more about how to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Texas U.S. Congressman and House Rules Committee member Chip Roy, a leading Republican candidate for Texas Attorney General in 2026, voted yesterday to prevent a measure that would force the unveiling of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking ring from being put to a vote by the full house: https://newrepublic.com/post/200213/list-house-republicans-voted-kill-epstein-bill...In fact, NONE of the Republicans in the Texas delegation signed on to a petition last week that also would have led to the release of the Epstein files: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2025/09/03/texas-republicans-take-a-pass-on-bipartisan-move-to-force-quick-release-of-epstein-files/...While Epstein co-conspirator and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has been upgraded to a downright fancy federal prison "camp" in Bryan: https://www.npr.org/2025/09/03/nx-s1-5519224/ghislaine-maxwell-prison-texas-epsteinAn English department lecturer at Texas A&M who was confronted by a MAGA student over gender-related material in a child lit lesson has been fired after pressure from Governor Abbott and other Republicans: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/article/abbott-texas-am-professor-21039346.phpAustin friends: tickets are now FREE for our live podcast taping with legendary Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver on September 15 at Hopsquad Brewing in Austin! RSVP here: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Looked to us like a crowd of a bit over 1,000 under a hot Round Rock sun - with about 12 hours notice - about three hours ago at publishing time for Austin State Rep. James Talarico's official kickoff event for his run for the U.S. Senate! Great energy and a great time - looking like an interesting primary season shaping up for Texas Democrats! Enjoy.Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Austin State Rep. James Talarico makes it official: he's running for the U.S. Senate: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/state/article/james-talarico-us-senate-campaign-21036632.phpGovernor Abbott announces an executive order establishing the sales restrictions on THC products that the legislature failed to pass after multiple tries: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/09/greg-abbott-thc-executive-order-21-texas/...Can he just up and do that? https://www.texastribune.org/2017/06/02/analysis-governors-executive-order-doesnt-go-very-far-texas/?utm_source=chatgpt.comIn yesterday's SCOTUS decision to allow racial profiling by ICE in California, years of progress have been "foolishly squandered": https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2025/09/09/supreme-courts-immigration-ruling-is-a-huge-step-backward-for-america/...Recent ICE detention horror stories include a Houston mother of nine who now faces deportation or indefinite detention: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/08/texas-houston-immigrants-family-deportation-belize-ice/?_bhlid=8e0e0663695b3812d0118f81adc1a3473c5a4b5a...And an Austin man from Iran who's likely to be tortured and possibly executed if he's deported: https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2025-09-05/austinite-facing-execution-in-iran-awaits-deportation-after-weeks-detained/Austin friends: tickets are now FREE for our live podcast taping with legendary Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver on September 15 at Hopsquad Brewing in Austin! RSVP here: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:Austin State Rep. James Talarico - surprising nobody - is set to launch a run for the U.S. Senate tomorrow: https://www.sacurrent.com/news/texas-rep-james-talarico-will-announce-bid-for-u-s-senate-seat-next-week/...Talarico enjoys considerable momentum going in, both from a recent Joe Rogan interview and his own social media savvy: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/05/james-talarico-texas-senate-democrat-2026/Congressional District 33, which would be newly-confined to Dallas County under the new Donald Trump map, sees a chaotic situation begin to develop for Dallas Dems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz0jmb-6q5QThe Texas Republican Party's plan to censure and block from reelection any sitting party member who has not toed their ideological line sees an opponent in Amarillo Republican megadonor Alex Fairly: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/14/alex-fairly-texas-republican-party-censures-primary-ballot/A new survey finds that about a quarter of Texas college professors have already begun seeking work outside the state, and many of those who haven't are considering quitting, due to conservative interference: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/05/texas-faculty-university-political-climate-survey/Austin friends: tickets are now FREE for our live podcast taping with legendary Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver on September 15 at Hopsquad Brewing in Austin! RSVP here: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
The Democratic side of the race for U.S. Senate is heating up in Texas - but the very first Democrat to announce for the race was former U.S. Air Force Colonel and NASA astronaut Terry Virts. As election season begins to get real, Progress Texas is seeking to bring you extended conversations with as many of the most promising candidates as possible - really enjoyed this talk with Colonel Virts.Learn more about Terry Virts and his run for Senate at https://www.terryvirts.com/.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
If you're one of the millions of Americans who celebrated the amazing breakthrough of vaccines as a way out of the dark days of the COVID pandemic just a few short years ago, you've probably been dismayed at the antics of RFK Jr. undermining the continuation of that medical miracle, the undermining of vaccinations among school kids in Texas and elsewhere, and the celebration of ivermectin among Texas lawmakers. Plenty to complain about on In Progress this week, and we're proud to welcome to the weekly venting session our friend Cory Duty of the Lake Travis Democrats!Learn more about the Lake Travis Democrats at https://www.laketravisdemocrats.com/.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can help support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
As young progressives across the country continue to gain inspiration from the likes of Zohran Mamdani in New York, even here in Texas we're seeing fresh faces pop up in interesting places: in the cases of Ric Galvan in San Antonio and John P. Bowers III in Rowlett, the freshest faces on both of those Texas City Councils! We caught up with both of them to get an inside view of how things are getting underway, and what they look forward to tackling for their communities moving forward.Learn more about San Antonio City Council Member Ric Galvan at https://www.sa.gov/Directory/Departments/Mayor-Council/City-Council/D6/Biography.Learn more about Rowlett City Council Member John P. Bowers III at https://www.rowletttx.gov/directory.aspx?EID=674.Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:The Texas Republican Party has filed a lawsuit seeking to close its primary election to registered Republicans - in a state that does not have a system for party registration: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/04/texas-gop-republican-party-closed-primary-elections/The appointment of State Senator Brandon Creighton as chancellor at Texas Tech represents a further consolidation of conservative control over our state's institutions of higher learning: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/05/texas-tech-university-brandon-creighton-chancellor/The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has joined several Texas college student groups to sue UT Austin over a new state law placing limits on campus activities at night - a law largely authored by Brandon Creighton: https://www.thefire.org/news/lawsuit-texas-bans-first-amendment-public-universities-after-darkAustin friends: tickets are now FREE for our live podcast taping with legendary Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver on September 15 at Hopsquad Brewing in Austin! RSVP here: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025Help Progress Texas avoid going on a permanent vacation this summer by becoming a sustaining member: https://progresstexas.org/join-pt-summer-vacation-membership-driveThanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:As was rumored, the second special session was brought to a close early last night as a huge wave of GOP priorities made the desk of Governor Greg Abbott, but other items fell short: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/04/texas-legislature-adjourns-special-session-sine-die/On flood relief, bills on infrastructure and camp safety passed, but SB2, which was aimed at improving emergency response in flood-prone areas did not make the finish line: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/04/texas-legislature-disaster-emergency-response-bill/Dan's Ban - a near-complete ban on THC products made legal by GOP hemp legislation in 2023 that Lt. Gov Dan Patrick had been furiously advocating for all year, finally failed last night: https://www.kvue.com/article/news/politics/special-session/texas-legislature-thc-deal-ban-hemp/269-0028d2c8-8899-4d06-b0a4-e71292539195A new ban on abortion medication that allows Texans to sue entities handling those pills even outside of Texas, passed and is likely to be signed: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/us/politics/texas-senate-abortion-pills-bill.htmlThe long-sought and long-feared bathroom bill is also likely to be signed into law, despite doubts about its enforceability: https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/texas/bathroom-bill-aimed-trans-people-awaits-governors-signature-texas-legislature/287-41339ea0-caa2-41ad-b4f1-374c4f8d0d97A bill that would have allowed Texas law enforcement agencies to conceal records related to complaints against officers failed after the two chambers came to an impasse: https://www.expressnews.com/politics/article/police-records-confidentiality-uvalde-21026729.phpA bill that would have paused a massive and controversial groundwater grab in East Texas has failed to pass: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/east-texas-water-pumping-21029821.phpMassive new penalties on future quorum breakers passed, rendering one of the last tools of minority resistance in the Texas Legislature much more painful to employ: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2025/09/04/measures-seeking-to-prevent-future-quorum-breaks-by-texas-lawmakers-approved-wednesday/Austin friends: tickets are on sale now for our live podcast taping with legendary Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver on September 15 at Hopsquad Brewing in Austin! Tickets are limited and are available here: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025Help Progress Texas avoid going on a permanent vacation this summer by becoming a sustaining member: https://progresstexas.org/join-pt-summer-vacation-membership-driveThanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
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