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,...
Sep 08, 2025•8 min
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 listeni...
Sep 07, 2025•49 min
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 ...
Sep 06, 2025•38 min
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...
Sep 05, 2025•42 min
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 high...
Sep 05, 2025•8 min
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 l...
Sep 04, 2025•9 min
Governor Greg Abbott denies allegations from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzger that Texas National Guard troops are part of a Donald Trump-threatened military deployment to Chicago: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/national-guard-chicago-abbott-21027479.php ...Pritzger warns us not to allow the militarization of American cities to become normalized: https://www.advocate.com/voices/pritzker-trump-invading-chicago A racist comment from 2022 that Lubbock State Senator Charles P...
Sep 03, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Yesterday, September 1, saw over 800 new laws hit the books in Texas: https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/new-texas-laws-sept-1/3911795/ One new law we do like hits the books today: the expansion of Texas' medical marijuana allowances: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/texas-officials-publish-rules-to-expand-medical-marijuana-access-with-new-dispensary-licenses/ The second special session drags on, with a lot remaining on the agenda:...
Sep 02, 2025•8 min
Proud to welcome our good friend Jorjo Vasquez to the weekly venting roundtable - Jorjo is Communications Director for San Antonio State Senator Roland Gutierrez and is central to the fiery progressive messages that office is known for. Our weekly session comes as ivermectin is made widely available as new restrictions are placed on COVID vaccines, the decades-simmering anti-trans bathroom bill finally makes Governor Abbott's desk - and a potential game-changer for the political world down in So...
Aug 29, 2025•37 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A flurry of new GOP-pushed legislation towards the close of the second special session includes the anti-trans bathroom bill that Republicans have fetishized over for a decade: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/transgender-bathroom-bill-21019516.php ...And a new vigilante bill allowing Texans to sue anybody who manufactures, transports or provides abortion-inducing medication: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/22/te...
Aug 29, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: HB 25 - a bill allowing ivermectin to be bought at Texas pharmacies without prescriptions - has blazed through the second special session and is headed for Governor Greg Abbott's desk: https://www.expressnews.com/politics/article/ivermectin-bill-clears-texas-house-angry-pushback-21016700.php ...The Texas Medical Association testified against the bill, but the Texas Board of Pharmacy declined to get involved: https://www.texastribune.org/202...
Aug 28, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The NAACP follows LULAC, filing the second lawsuit against the new Texas congressional map ordered by Donald Trump that carves out five new likely Republican seats at the expense of Texas voters of color: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/26/naacp-sues-texas-congressional-maps-black-political-power ...Trump's plummeting approval in the RGV sheds light on why he's so desperate to shield himself from the wrath of voters in 2026: ht...
Aug 27, 2025•9 min
The Park Cities Area Democrats invited our executive director Kathleen Thompson and Dallas County Democratic Party Chair Kardal Coleman to explain what just happened in the Texas Legislature and what it means for Dallas County. On a hot summer evening, a packed room sat rapt while Kathleen shared PT’s viral clips, straight from the quorum-breaking Democratic lawmakers themselves, and Kardal and Kathleen discussed the second not-so-special session, the quorum break, political imprisonment from th...
Aug 26, 2025•46 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Houston Rep. and Texas House Minority Leader Gene Wu addressed the opening day of the Democratic National Committee's summer meeting yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oo1tgO5Jhk The Texas House Republican Caucus voted yesterday to crank up the penalties against future quorum breakers: https://www.statesman.com/news/politics/state/article/house-quorum-bust-sanctions-21014411.php ...Strangely, a move to formally censure the quorum b...
Aug 26, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Trump administration is planning to mobilize over 1,700 National Guard troops across 19 states, including Texas which will receive the largest number of troops: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-national-guard-military-states-cities-b2812837.html ...The only of those states with a Democratic governor is New Mexico, where Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has expressed disdain for Trump's deployment plans:...
Aug 25, 2025•9 min
No surprise to anyone that the Texas GOP eventually (and as quickly as they could manage) got their way, and have gotten their new congressional map carving out a cushion of five likely Republican seats in the U.S. Congress next year for Donald Trump. The question remains: what do we do now? Pooja Sethi, who's running for the Texas House in that same 2026 election, joins us to discuss an insane week in Austin, and how this lays out the playing field for the next year. Learn more about Pooja and ...
Aug 23, 2025•29 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Texas Senate appears ready to fast-track the Trump-ordered redistricting of Texas as soon as today, which would send the measure to Governor Abbott's desk: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/22/texas-congressional-redistricting-map-senate-governor-desk/?_bhlid=2276038ea97d8d3a93bb0622be72c6cda7ee47d2 ...In California, a map redistricting the other direction is set for a November public vote - the trigger provision has been removed, so...
Aug 22, 2025•9 min
Ironically, mere minutes after Texas Republicans pushed through a racially-gerrymandered congressional map ordered by Donald Trump to cut his losses in next year's midterms, we convened a panel of esteemed Black leaders from across the D/FW area to discuss the state of voting rights 60 years since LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act into law in 1965. We were pleased to team with the Legal Defense Fund to host a panel featuring former Dallas City Council Member for District 3 Casey Thomas, Grand Pra...
Aug 21, 2025•1 hr 13 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Texas House Republicans, surprising nobody, approved the new congressional map ordered by Donald Trump to artificially create five new Republican U.S. House seats yesterday: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8z4nj17dno In response, lawmakers in California will likely vote today on a package of bills to put the option of redistricting that seat for Democratic advantage to their voters in November: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/us/poli...
Aug 21, 2025•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: After promising the families of July 4th flood victims that flood relief would take a top priority in the second special session, the Trump-gerrymandered congressional map is the only item on the agenda for today at the House: https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/20/politics/texas-redistricting-california ...California Republicans are getting nervous as preparations to allow that state's voters to approve a retaliatory redistricting of the Golden St...
Aug 20, 2025•8 min
Another live update from what's turning into a pretty crazy second special session of the Texas Legislature: Austin Rep. Sheryl Cole posted to social media early on Tuesday that the Texas DPS trooper assigned to watch her berated her loudly and publicly after losing track of her on an Austin walking trail. We offered to allow Rep. Cole to tell her story, and she graciously accepted. Learn more about Rep. Sheryl Cole at https://www.sherylcole.com/ ....
Aug 19, 2025•16 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Fort Worth Rep. Nicole Collier spent the night last night on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives, refusing a Texas DPS tail that Republicans have required for all of the Democratic quorum breakers to leave the Capitol: https://abc7ny.com/post/democratic-texas-state-rep-nicole-collier-slept-house-floor-protest-refusing-demand-law-enforcement-escort/17584775/ ...A nonviolent protest and solidarity gathering on behalf of Rep. Colli...
Aug 19, 2025•9 min
We are beyond proud of Rep. Nicole Collier of Fort Worth, who today refused to agree to a Texas DPS tail in order to be allowed to leave the Texas House floor. We talked to her live from there this evening, and will continue to follow. Learn more about Rep. Nicole Collier at https://www.texasrepcollier.com/ .
Aug 19, 2025•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Texas House Democrats who have stopped the Donald Trump-ordered redistricting of Texas for the last two weeks are expected to restore quorum today: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/us/politics/redistricting-texas-maps.html ...In Houston, Colin Allred calls the quorum break a success in buying time and building understanding of the situation across the country: https://www.khou.com/video/news/local/texas/quorum-may-be-reached-in-texas-...
Aug 18, 2025•9 min
As the first special session ends, and a second begins - all but promising that the new congressional map designed to give Donald Trump a chance to elude the voters and maintain control of the U.S. House beyond next year will be enacted - we gather with special guest Wil Jeudy of Secular Houston to unpack the end of the Democratic quorum break, what they accomplished over the last two weeks, and what happens next. Learn more about Secular Houston at https://secularhouston.org/ . Progress Texas' ...
Aug 15, 2025•34 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: As day 12 of the Texas House quorum break arrives, those Dems have announced plans to return for the promised second special session, in part “to build a strong public legislative record for the upcoming legal battle” https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/14/texas-house-democrats-plan-return-quorum-break-redistricting/ ...They plan to wait until California's retaliatory redistricting map is unveiled, likely later today: https://www.nytimes.c...
Aug 15, 2025•13 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: An Illinois judge, approached by Ken Paxton under the assumption that he may bend the rules as Texas judges have, has declined Paxton's request that authorities in that state enforce arrest warrants against the Democratic quorum breakers sheltering there: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/13/texas-democrats-illinois-arrest-warrants-reject-extradite/ ...The quorum breakers took part in a call hosted by the Democratic Congressional Campaig...
Aug 14, 2025•10 min
As the end of the first special session approaches this week, with another threatened immediately to follow, we continue our talks with House Democrats who have left the state to stop the power grab of Donald Trump via mid-decade redistricting - a tactic that grows less and less popular as more and more Americans realize what's happening. The Texas Dems are largely responsible for the spread of that awareness - so part of their mission is already successful. We're glad to welcome back Rep. Erin ...
Aug 13, 2025•19 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Somewhat shaky reports have emerged that the Texas House Democrats away from the Capitol breaking quorum are making plans to return for a promised second special session, hoping for flood relief to be made the top priority: https://abc13.com/post/texas-house-democrats-return-home-second-special-session-abc13-sources-confirm/17515302/ ...The Texas Senate tried to push flood relief to the top yesterday too, but failed - a walkout by nine of t...
Aug 13, 2025•12 min
Rep. Christina Morales of Houston holds the very special distinction of having secured the most progressive voting record in the entire Texas House during the 89th Legislature ( https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/17/texas-house-2025-conservative-liberal-ranking/ ), and we're proud to (finally!) have her on for our ongoing series of updates from Democratic lawmakers who have left the state to halt Donald Trump's carving up of our congressional map for his own personal benefit. Learn more about ...
Aug 12, 2025•18 min
