Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: May Day Strong Lone Star Labor: Mourn the dead. Fight like hell for the living. Texas AFL-CIO: https://texasaflcio.org/news/lone-star-labor-mourn-dead-fight-hell-living What is May Day? Where San Antonio protests are planned. MySA: https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/may-day-protests-san-antonio-22234392.php James Broadnax Executed on April 30 James Broadnax executed by Texas: Live updates and final words. Dallas Mornin...
May 01, 2026•10 min
On April 29, on a party line vote, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Louisiana v. Callais, to strip one of the most consequential protections against discrimination in our elections—Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The ruling enables years of racial inequality to come, further eroding fair representation and the equal rights of Black and brown voters in the South. To hear more about the case and how it relates to Texas, we're joined by an attorney who worked on the Louisiana v. Callais case, NAA...
May 01, 2026•29 min
Monday is Star Wars Day - May the Fourth be with you! Both Communications Director Chris Mosser and Digital Associate Haley Smith are lifelong Star Wars fanatics, and are not about to allow an opportunity to talk Star Wars AND politics go by - and in fact, for those interested in both, the parallels between the galaxy far far away and the history and current political moment right here on Earth are interesting to explore. Executive Director Kathleen "Mon Mothma" Thompson joins to try to keep the...
May 01, 2026•35 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: SCOTUS Decision Overturns Decades of Voting Rights Protections Supreme Court Callais Decision Overturns Decades of Voting Rights Protections. Progress Texas: https://progresstexas.org/blog/statement-supreme-court-callais-decision-overturns-decades-voting-rights-protections U.S. Supreme Court weakens key pillar of Voting Rights Act, opening the door for Texas to redraw political maps. Texas Tribune: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/04/29/us...
Apr 30, 2026•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Two “T”s impacting Texas: Talarico and Trump Talarico leads both Cornyn, Paxton in new poll of Texas’ U.S. Senate race. Texas Tribune: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/04/28/texas-us-senate-poll-talarico-cornyn-paxton-2026-midterms/ "Editing my words': Talarico's Austin pastor says Cornyn is misrepresenting his sermon. Austin American-Statesman : https://www.statesman.com/news/politics/article/talarico-pastor-cornyn-sermon-remarks-22...
Apr 29, 2026•12 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: As expected, Supreme Court officially greenlights Texas’ gerrymandered congressional map for midterms. Democracy Docket: https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/as-expected-supreme-court-officially-greenlights-texas-gerrymandered-congressional-map/ Dallas could host a GOP midterm twist as Trump tries a Texas power play. Dallas Morning News: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/article/dallas-host-gop-midterm-twist-22223462.php ...
Apr 28, 2026•12 min
Our board has chosen to endorse Austin State Rep. Vikki Goodwin in her run for Texas Lieutenant Governor for many reasons - her years-long commitment to public education, her dedication to reproductive justice, and perhaps most importantly, her near-decade of front-seat experience with the Texas Legislature, which will be important as she takes historic steps to rehabilitate the most powerful office in Austin after over three decades of Republican rule. She's in a runoff against challenger and u...
Apr 27, 2026•20 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: AP News: DC gala shooting suspect aired grievances against Trump in writings to family Dallas Morning News: I was at the table when chaos broke out at White House Correspondents’ Dinner Texas Tribune: Austin, Dallas revise police policy allowing more ICE cooperation after Abbott funding cut threat Texas Tribune: Texas police can arrest people suspected of entering country illegally, federal court rules Texas Tribune: Texas legislators inves...
Apr 27, 2026•11 min
Former Progress Texas Advocacy Manager (and forever Progress Texas family member) Reagan Stone returns for a tour of where South Texas meets West Texas, and West meets Far West. In stark contrasts, Texas’ US Congressional District 23’s sky island mountains and high desert borderlands lead to its opposite dense and urban bounds, El Paso and San Antonio, respectively. Reagan welcomes former public school teacher, child welfare attorney, and now Congressional District 23’s Democratic nominee Katy P...
Apr 25, 2026•39 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Hearst Newspapers is out with reporting on the PACs that spent the most on statewide and legislative races Houston Chronicle The House Majority PAC is targeting South Texas seats with $22 million in ads Texas Tribune The first school voucher applicants are being sent notifications for awards this week Texas Tribune ICE detains Texas resident Texas Tribune Egyptian family released from Dilley Texas Tribune A review of “How Frisco became gr...
Apr 24, 2026•11 min
Two stories this week that seem separate from one another are both examples of Governor Abbott's MAGA machine in Texas' slow and steady erosion of our rights under the Constitution. There's the undermining of a local ordinance in Houston designed to protect Fourth Amendment protections against unlawful detention, and then there's the greenlighting of Ten Commandments posting in Texas classrooms, a clear assault on First Amendment church/state barriers. Both are audacious attacks on YOUR rights -...
Apr 24, 2026•29 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Amendments to Houston's ICE ordinance put forth by Mayor John Whitmire were voted in yesterday by the Houston City Council - an effective caving to pressure from Governor Greg Abbott: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/city-of-houston/2026/04/22/549776/ice-houston-police-policy-revised-city-council-whitmire-abbott/ ...The ordinance was designed to ensure that Houston police follow the Fourth Amendment - and its rescinding enco...
Apr 23, 2026•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Continuing the redistricting fight started by Donald Trump in Texas and highlighted by quorum-breaking Texas State House Democrats, Virginia voters have approved a redraw of their congressional map that may yield as many as four additional blue seats in the U.S. House: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/us/elections/redistricting-gerrymandering-virginia-takeaways.html There's a big special session of the Houston City Council today, as Mayor...
Apr 22, 2026•9 min
In one of Texas' most rapidly growing and diversifying areas, Evan Hunt brings a rich background of business leadership and military leadership experience to his run against the ultra-MAGA and not-much-else Republican incumbent Keith Self. Everyday folks in northeast D/FW are sick of drama and looking for actual leadership and results - and Evan Hunt tells us how he plans to deliver. Learn more about Evan Hunt and his campaign for Congress at https://www.electevanhunt.com/ . Thanks for listening...
Apr 21, 2026•32 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Austin-area Republican Congressman and candidate for attorney general Chip Roy has introduced McCarthy-esque new legislation that would allow political ideology and religion to be used as reasons for deportation, de-naturalization and exclusion of immigrants: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5840389-chip-roy-mamdani-act/ ...Meanwhile Ken Paxton, still in office for now, has filed a lawsuit against the Democratic and progressive fundraisin...
Apr 21, 2026•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Texas Medical Board has reprimanded the doctors involved in the deaths of Neveah Crain and Porsha Ngumezi, both of whom were denied critical care as their doctors tried to accommodate Texas' ban on abortion: https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/17/health/texas-medical-board-pregnant-women-propublica ...Meanwhile a California doctor targeted by a state law against sending abortion medication into Texas has filed his own lawsuit, countering that t...
Apr 20, 2026•10 min
With the primary defeat of Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw in the Houston area's 2nd Congressional District, and the ascent to the Republican nomination by the much more radically-MAGA State Rep. Steve Toth, a potential blue flip is most definitely in the offing - in a district that the Trump-ordered redistricting of Texas made just a bit less secure for the GOP. Longtime energy sector businessman (and immigrant! He's from Canada) Shaun Finnie has secured the Democratic nomination, and joine...
Apr 17, 2026•27 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Governor Greg Abbott has expanded his threat of public safety defunding over local police policies regarding ICE beyond Houston, to Dallas and Austin: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/04/16/texas-greg-abbott-ice-houston-dallas-austin-ice-immigration/ ...Abbott has extended his deadline to Wednesday, and Houston Mayor John Whitmire has delayed a vote to repeal the ICE ordinance: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/whit...
Apr 17, 2026•9 min
The strongarming of Houston by Governor Greg Abbott, who is threatening to withdraw $110 million in first responder funding over the city's policy limiting the Houston Police Department's interactions with ICE, is the latest example of state-level politics interfering with the right of Texas cities to run themselves as they see fit. With Abbott running the state government like a Death Star, maybe he shouldn't be surprised to see Texas' major cities slipping through his fingers. Thanks for liste...
Apr 17, 2026•28 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A major fight has developed between Houston Mayor John Whitmire - who wants to preserve $110 million in state funding by obey Governor Greg Abbott's orders to dump a new city ordinance limiting Houston police coordination with ICE - and members of the Houston City Council, who want Whitmire to fight back: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/houston-city-council-consider-repealing-new-ice-22205556.php ...Council Members...
Apr 16, 2026•9 min
Progress Texas was proud to join our allies at Environment Texas recently for a terrific discussion on clean energy and its intersection with the beautiful, varied and treasured ecologies of our state at the wonderful Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in south Austin. In this second of two parts, we present a lawmaker’s perspective on the state of clean energy in Texas from Driftwood State Representative Erin Zwiener; a panel discussion on smart siting, stewardship, implementation and industry...
Apr 16, 2026•1 hr 40 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico unveils his plan to raise taxes on billionaires by eliminating luxury deductions and closing the "carried interest loophole": https://www.sacurrent.com/news/democratic-u-s-senate-hopeful-james-talarico-unveils-plan-to-tax-billionaires/ ...While Governor Greg Abbott is planning to force through the 2027 legislative session a property tax reform plan that will further undermine public school funding: h...
Apr 15, 2026•11 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Texas Republican electeds are uniformly silent at Donald Trump's shocking self-comparison to Jesus Christ over the weekend - however, as of yesterday, the Texas Democratic Party hasn't said much either: https://www.chron.com/news/article/trump-jesus-pope-texas-22203753.php West Texas Congressman Tony Gonzales has announced he's stepping down over multiple sexual harassment accusations - Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California is ...
Apr 14, 2026•9 min
Progress Texas was proud to join our allies at Environment Texas recently for a terrific discussion on clean energy and its intersection with the beautiful, varied and treasured ecologies of our state, at the wonderful Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in south Austin. In this first of two parts: a welcome statement from Andy Sansom, former Executive Director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; an update on the current state of clean energy in Texas from Dr. Michael Webber, Professor a...
Apr 13, 2026•1 hr 53 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Neither of the Republicans running for their party's nomination for Texas attorney general would be better than Ken Paxton - they both, in fact, are looking to accelerate Paxton's right wing crusades: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/04/13/texas-attorney-general-gop-runoff-overturn-supreme-court-rulings-chip-roy-mayes-middleton/ The Texas Committee on House Administration emerged from that Friday meeting with individual fines against each ...
Apr 13, 2026•10 min
The City of Dallas is poised to step into the global spotlight, as the most-watched sporting event on the planet, the FIFA World Cup, arrives in North Texas this summer. At this critical juncture - when the international image of the United States has faced significant challenges and scrutiny due to the recent political climate - and our domestic tourism economy has suffered as a result - Dallas has a chance to seize a unique opportunity to demonstrate to a worried world the true character and v...
Apr 11, 2026•37 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The victims of the Colony Ridge real estate scam have been left out of a $68 million settlement against the developer who ripped them off: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/04/09/texas-railroad-commision-bo-french-midland-republican-candidates-forum/ The Texas House Administration Committee will meet today to decide how to enforce $9,200 personal fines levied against the 2025 Democratic quorum breakers: https://www.statesman.com/news/politi...
Apr 10, 2026•9 min
The coverage by the Texas Observer, a longstanding and legendary liberal Texas media outlet - of a recent hit piece on Houston State Rep. Gene Wu by the Dallas Express, an upstart, well-funded right wing rag masquerading as a "spin-free" media entity - has us thinkin' about how difficult it has become to tell fact from fiction in the news...and that's before we even start thinkin' about AI. Now, more than ever, it's vital to find, patronize, and support fact-based indie media with high standards...
Apr 10, 2026•29 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: As focus on the conditions inside ICE lockups in Texas has wavered, detainees remain confined in dangerous, unsanitary and inhumane circumstances: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tW7WyzvAtg ...A celebrated doctor from Venezuela - the 2025 "Resident Of The Year" at UT Health Rio Grande Valley - is himself likely being held in similar conditions after his detention in Sarita on Monday: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/us/texas-doctor-detai...
Apr 09, 2026•11 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Texas elected officials are calling for Donald Trump's cabinet and the Congress to remove him from office using the 25th Amendment before he starts WWIII - but in reality, that remains highly unlikely: https://www.chron.com/texas/article/texas-lawmakers-trump-iran-22194262.php ...Even Congressman Henry Cuellar is sounding sensible: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5820948-cuellar-reverses-war-powers-stance/ City and state officials have r...
Apr 08, 2026•10 min
