Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A massive display of public outrage over Tarrant County Commissioners' plan to scrap several early voting locations on college campuses in the Fort Worth area has stopped those plans in their tracks: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/12/tarrant-county-college-voting-location/ ...While LULAC responds to Ken Paxton's voter suppression attempts in South Texas with a national get-out-the-vote drive: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latino...
Sep 13, 2024•7 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Three Democratic candidates in Tarrant County are threatening a lawsuit if County Commissioners vote to reduce the number of early voting locations on local college campuses: https://fortworthreport.org/2024/09/11/democrats-threaten-lawsuit-as-tarrant-commissioners-debate-reducing-campus-poll-sites/ The Texas Supreme Court has ordered the Dallas City Council to remove funding amendments it had placed on the November ballot alongside petitio...
Sep 12, 2024•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Progressives across America are elated at Vice President Kamala Harris' amazing performance last night in the debate against Donald Trump: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/11/harris-trump-debate-takeaways ...The issues of abortion rights, immigration and climate change have particular relevance in Texas: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/election/2024/article/trump-harris-debate-takeaways-19752782.php ...Watch th...
Sep 11, 2024•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: With much at stake, Texas progressives are confident in Vice President Kamala Harris to perform well in tonight's debate - though the hangover from the last one still lingers: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/10/harris-and-trump-make-final-preparations-ahead-of-crucial-presidential-debate-in-philadelphia Your debate bingo cards are here: https://progresstexas.org/blog/harris-trump-debate-expectations-and-bingo-cards ...A...
Sep 10, 2024•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Tribfest '24 is a wrap, and highlights included a Kamala Harris endorsement from Liz Cheney...and her infamous father: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/08/texas-tribune-festival-highlights/ ...Cheney also endorsed Dallas Congressman Colin Allred in his race against Ted Cruz: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/07/collin-allred-defends-campaign-strategy/ New polling shows a narrow 5 point lead for Donald Trump over Harris in Texas - but...
Sep 09, 2024•9 min
A great hang today at Progress Texas' HQ at the wonderful Hideout Coffee ( https://www.hideouttheatre.com/coffeehouse/ ) during the annual TribFest event in Austin! THANKS to everyone who stopped by to say hi, pick up the merch to match your values, and learn more about Progress Texas and all the great stuff we do. We enjoyed a couple of quick podcast sessions today as well - one with Dallas State Rep. Rafael Anchia, and another with Austin City Council Member Paige Ellis and her hubby (and form...
Sep 07, 2024•25 min
After 14 years, most folks who are active in progressive politics in Texas have an idea of what exactly Progress Texas is and does - but, it occurs to us that, over the last handful of years, there are a great many of you who know us from our podcasts and digital media, but may not have the full story. We've assembled most of the PT crew, plus for the first time, board member Alex Andrade, for a tour through what we do, how we do it, and most importantly, WHY. The hard fact is, our conservative ...
Sep 07, 2024•50 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Attorney General Ken Paxton's office has sued the Biden Administration over a new rule protecting the private information of women who have left Texas seeking abortion services: https://www.reuters.com/legal/texas-sues-block-biden-rule-protecting-privacy-women-who-get-abortions-2024-09-05/ From the hassling of Democrats at their homes, to the suing of counties over voter outreach, to the pursuit of non-profits who help migrants, the state i...
Sep 06, 2024•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Ken Paxton, as threatened, has filed a lawsuit against Bexar County over their program to register more voters in the San Antonio area: https://newrepublic.com/post/185585/ken-paxton-threatens-sue-democrats-voter-registration ...He's also poised to similarly sue Harris County over their efforts to increase voter registration in Houston - all part of longstanding GOP efforts against urban and Latino voters: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/04...
Sep 05, 2024•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Officials in Bexar County have voted to move forward with plans to mail voter registration forms to unregistered voters in spite of threats of a lawsuit by Ken Paxton: https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/bexar-county-hire-voter-firm-19740080.php The Texas Department of State Health Services has followed a similar policy at Texas DPS in denying trans Texans from changing the sex listed on their birth certificates: https://www.texastribu...
Sep 04, 2024•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Ken Paxton has warned officials in Harris and Bexar Counties that he believes their plans to send voter registration materials to unregistered voters is illegal: https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/harris-county/texas-ag-ken-paxton-warning-letter-harris-county-commissioners-court-voter-registration-forms/285-cef860b9-edf1-4c7a-bbcf-c2d149cecadb ...As Republicans spread fear of legal reprisals for helping others register and vote, the Te...
Sep 03, 2024•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Texas Republicans are underway with a broad, coordinated attempt to stoke racist fear of Hispanic migrants, intimidate Latino Texans away from the polls, and undermine general confidence in our elections system: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4854249-texas-immigration-strategies-republicans-democrats/ Yet another Texas judge has stopped Ken Paxton from harrassing yet another non-profit group dedicated to humanitarian support for m...
Aug 30, 2024•8 min
The entire country has been transfixed at the recent blatant, racist weaponization of Texas law enforcement against Latino political candidates and Democratic activists in South Texas - all while our Governor celebrates the purging of over 1 million voters from our rolls. The desperation of the Trump party to cling to power at all costs has never been more obvious, and their tactics never more brazen. We're proud to welcome the Democratic nominee for Texas House District 80, Cecilia Castellano, ...
Aug 29, 2024•45 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: It's no surprise that the House District 80 race is the target of Ken Paxton's voter suppression efforts - that seat is seen as very important to the Texas GOP: https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a61987103/ken-paxton-texas-latino-activists/ ...Paxton's blatant efforts are inspiring voting rights advocates nationwide to step up their game: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/28/us/politics/voters-texas-raids.html ...Governor Greg Abb...
Aug 29, 2024•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Ken Paxton's raids in South Texas on Democratic politicos likely hinges on new restrictions on voting access activism, enacted as reaction to false election claims related to the 2020 election: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/28/ken-paxton-south-texas-vote-harvesting-investigation-politiqueras-hist/ ...Greg Abbott's chest-puffing over illegally registered non-citizen voters kicked off the rolls are also designed to instill fear and u...
Aug 28, 2024•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Governor Abbott announces the removal of 1.1 million Texans from the voter rolls, including over 6,000 he accuses of registering illegally: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/abbott-decries-noncitizen-voters-activists-19723919.php ...Over half of those are Texans who have sat out of voting in presidential cycles since 2016 and have moved since without updating their registration: https://www.kvue.com/article/news/politi...
Aug 27, 2024•8 min
With Kamala Harris and Tim Walz inspiring people across the country to believe in American politics once again, YOU might be wondering how to up your game when it comes to political activism. You may not realize that, depending on where you live, there are likely multiple Democratic clubs already active in your community and ready to welcome you into the fold! We talked to the leaders of three Texas clubs that have distinguished themselves in reach, innovation and electoral results to see what w...
Aug 26, 2024•41 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Officers under the orders of Attorney General Ken Paxton's office aggressively raided the homes of Democratic House candidate Cecilia Castellano and several other Latino politicos in south Texas, including an 87-year-old retired teacher: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/24/ken-paxton-vote-harvesting-raid-lulac-cecilia-castellano/ ...LULAC has called on the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation into Paxton's raids: https://...
Aug 26, 2024•7 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: On the fourth and final night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Texas remained in key representation - from The Chicks, to Uvalde mom Kimberly Rubio, to Dallas Congressman Colin Allred: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2024/08/22/dnc-gives-colin-allred-a-national-stage-to-make-his-case-against-ted-cruz/ ...Progress Texas Advocacy Manager Reagan Stone relates his main takeaways from his Chicago experience: https://progresst...
Aug 23, 2024•10 min
With another backstage update from Chicago, as the 2024 Democratic National Convention moves into its climactic fourth day, Progress Texas Advocacy Manager Reagan Stone brings us a view from behind the scenes with two of our favorite Texas progressive players: we welcome back our long-time bud Kendall Scudder, among other important roles Vice Chair for Finance of the Texas Democratic Party. And, for the first time, Lisa Reyna Loe joins us - Lisa is an activist for disability-related causes in Te...
Aug 22, 2024•21 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Prominent Texans during the third day ofthe Democratic National Convention included El Paso U.S. Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, influencers Carlos Espina and Olivia Julianna, and Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar: https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/dnc-bexar-county-sheriff-salazar-19716505.php Could DNC buzz put Harris/Walz over the top in Texas? New polling shows a narrowing lead for Donald Trump: https://www.statesman.c...
Aug 22, 2024•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Abortion rights and reproductive freedom are a central theme for Texans in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/08/20/dnc-live-updates-coverage/abortion-front-and-center-texas-delegation-00175254 ...Key issue figures including Kate Cox and Amanda Zurawski have been prominently featured: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/20/cox-zurawski-texas-abortion-laws-dnc/ ...Other issues with...
Aug 21, 2024•9 min
Progress Texas Advocacy Manager Reagan Stone has been rubbin' elbows with a TON of our nation's top progressive leaders since he arrived in Chicago on Sunday, and so has Progress Texas board member and Fort Worth-based attorney Jason Smith! Reagan and Jason sit down to share what they've seen and heard so far, and to describe the scene - it sounds like a LOT of terrific fun! More updates to come - watch our website, this podcast feed and our social accounts for more. Thanks for listening! Learn ...
Aug 21, 2024•16 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Last night's opening night of the Democratic National Convention was full of highlights, including Texas abortion rights activist Amanda Zurawski: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/08/19/us/dnc-harris-trump-election ...Harris County Lina Hidalgo sang the praises of both President Biden and Vice President Harris: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/lina-hidalgo-kamala-harris-19664933.php Could Texas flip blue this year? W...
Aug 20, 2024•17 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Texas is sending the third-largest delegation in the country to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which starts today: https://www.nbcdfw.com/decision-2024/texas-democrats-at-2024-dnc-process-the-biden-to-harris-transition/3624046/ ...Kate Cox will be at the DNC at the invitation of the Harris campaign: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/texas-woman-who-left-state-abortion-back-harris-convention-2024-08-15/ ...There are DNC and Ha...
Aug 19, 2024•9 min
We've been honored to host and meet a great and growing group of Texas progressive activists, officeholders and advocates in our ongoing series on reproductive freedom and the fight to regain our abortion rights in the Lone Star State. For this fifth talk in the series, we welcome three Texas women who have all taken on potentially the greatest political challenge in our state: running as Democrats in some of Texas' most egregiously gerrymandered Congressional districts. Dr. Kristin Hook (whose ...
Aug 18, 2024•41 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A Houston-based right-wing group has been bombarding election officials in Texas with thousands of objections to voter rolls: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/16/voter-registration-challenges-texas/ ...The Texas Tribune has posted a great guide on the obstacles and opportunies that Texans with disabilities need to be aware of for November: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/16/texas-voter-disabilities-election-2024/ Yet another child ...
Aug 16, 2024•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A Texas-based, reliably-conservative activist Federal judge (and Federalist Society member) has blocked future protections for LGBTQ+ school kids under Title IX: https://www.lonestarlive.com/news/2024/08/texas-based-judge-expands-ban-on-title-ix-gender-sexuality-protections.html Ken Paxton threatens legal action against the City of Dallas if the State Fair of Texas doesn't rescind their planned ban on most guns at this fall's event: https:/...
Aug 15, 2024•7 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: In a narrow vote, a committee of the Harris County Democratic Party picked former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner as their nominee to replace the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee in the U.S. House: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/13/turner-jackson-lee-november-ballot-houston/ Harris County DA Kim Ogg's "big announcement" is that a joint investigation between her office and the Texas Rangers of suspected election fraud in 2022 has t...
Aug 14, 2024•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Two Texas women have filed suit against two Texas hospitals, which they say denied needed emergency care for ectopic pregnancies: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/12/texas-abortion-law-ectopic-pregnancies/ Primary-defeated and outgoing Harris County DA Kim Ogg is set to announce corruption charges in relation to the November 2022 election in the Houston area: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/ogg-rangers-corrupti...
Aug 13, 2024•8 min
