Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Trump's choice to withhold SNAP food assistance payments resembles a forced starvation - in an armed conflict, that's a war crime, and in peacetime to force political outcomes, that's close to terrorism: https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/texas-house-democrats-form-committee ...Gubernatorial candidate and State Rep. Gina Hinojosa is calling on Governor Greg Abbott to tap into Texas' Rainy Day Fund to keep Texas kids fed: https://x.com/GinaHinoj...
Oct 30, 2025•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The looming suspension of SNAP benefits, which will heavily impact Texas, can be traced to ongoing Republican efforts to keep the Epstein files under wraps: https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-hunger-games-begin ...The disruption will be felt by all of us, in areas beyond groceries: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/28/texas-snap-benefits-cutoff-groceries-economy-government-shutdown/ ...There are many ways to both find and provide hel...
Oct 29, 2025•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: It's official - federal SNAP food assistance benefits will end on Saturday, for the first time in the over six decades since it started under LBJ: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/28/texas-snap-food-stamps-federal-shutdown-explained/ ...So, NOW is the time to get ahead of that and make a donation to your local food bank: https://www.feedingtexas.org/ Onetime arch-villain of the GOP Karl Rove fears that, if Texas Republican primary voter...
Oct 28, 2025•9 min
We've said it before, and we'll say it again: the Texas Railroad Commission has nothing to do with railroads. It's called that because the petroleum sector and their allies in the Texas Legislature would just as soon you didn't know that the Commission does regulate energy matters in Texas - matters of immense financial and environmental consequence, which under Republican control over the last 30 years, has basically meant a regulatory rubber stamp for that industry. Houston State Rep. Jon Rose...
Oct 27, 2025•25 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Millions of Texans - more people than in any other state - depend on SNAP food assistance, and the Trump administration has chosen to use them as pawns in the ongoing federal shutdown drama: https://apnews.com/article/food-aid-government-shutdown-snap-trump-democrats-8a52a63b26a707ea676962226b090bb1 ...Almost two million children in Texas are in the crosshairs: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/video/millions-of-texas-families-could-lose-snap-b...
Oct 27, 2025•8 min
Our regular Friday venting session this week features Texas House candidate and longtime Austin labor leader Jeremy Hendricks as our guest for a discussion of all manner of Republican ugly - from homeless crackdowns, to university takeovers, to yanking of food services - and the potential for progressive pushback indicated by the massive No Kings turnout last Saturday - all things considered, there's plenty to push back against. Learn more about Jeremy and his run for the State House at https:...
Oct 25, 2025•41 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Texas Education Agency has announced its takeover of Fort Worth ISD - behind Houston in 2023, the second-largest district they have overrun: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/23/texas-education-agency-fort-worth-isd-takeover/ Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, despite an already-crowded Democratic ticket for Senate, is still considering a run: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/10/22/congress/jasmine-crockett-texas-senate...
Oct 24, 2025•9 min
Folks who have followed Texas politics for awhile will remember Houston businessman Andrew White, who put on a spirited run for governor in 2018, but was edged out in the primary that year. White is back for a second run, and this time, as he says, he's running as an "independent Democrat" - holding that progressive litmus tests and box-checking may be part of what's been holding the party back on statewide wins for three decades now. Learn more about Andrew White and his campaign at https://and...
Oct 23, 2025•29 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Worry is spreading that the Trump administration is increasingly arming ICE with military-grade weaponry: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/10/23/2349922/-WTF-does-ICE-need-guided-missile-components-for Texas businesses across a wide range of sectors are being negatively impacted by Trump's immigration crackdown: https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-10-23/the-texas-paradox-businesses-need-more-migrants-while-trump-wants-...
Oct 23, 2025•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Without notifying city officials, Governor Greg Abbott has sent Texas DPS officers and other state agencies into Austin's homeless encampments to arrest and disperse them: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/21/greg-abbott-homelessness-sweeps-austin/ ..Meanwhile, the Governor was in Cypress yesterday at an event at which he pledged to "turn Harris County dark red": https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/article/gov-a...
Oct 22, 2025•8 min
We enjoyed immensely a long-overdue visit to Texas' largest and most diverse city for a terrific discussion on what's working for Harris County and Houston area progressives in the fight for representation and justice. Thanks so much to the folks at The Spaghetti Western for their hospitality! Learn more about the Harris County Democratic Party at https://www.harrisdemocrats.org/ . Learn more about HCDP's Clubs & Organizations program at https://www.harrisdemocrats.org/clubs . Learn more abo...
Oct 21, 2025•1 hr 4 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas! Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson announces with fanfare the discovery of a relatively small number of "potential non-citizens" on state voter registration rolls, prior to confirming that they are actual people voting illegally: https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/texas-says-database-found-more-than-2000-possible-noncitizens-on-voter-rolls/ The Texas Tribune reports that life on Texas college campuses has become hellish for trans students: h...
Oct 21, 2025•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: No Kings rallies saw massive attendance and great success across Texas on Saturday: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/20/no-kings-protests-trump-democrats ...Which didn't stop Trump from posting videos of himself dumping sewage on protesters, or Governor Greg Abbott from tweeting that "Texas is targeting professors": https://thehill.com/homenews/education/5563039-abbott-texas-college-professors-leftist-ideologies/ As early voting...
Oct 20, 2025•10 min
The whole country is holding its breath for tomorrow's second national No Kings demonstrations - for progressives, an important opportunity to stand up to encroaching authoritarianism - but for Donald Trump, perhaps a tempting target to further crack down on his political opponents. We talk about the importance of courage at this critical moment, not only for No Kings 2, but as we face yet another blatant erasure of LGBTQ+ pride, continued injustice on our college campuses, and more. Learn more ...
Oct 18, 2025•38 min
The second No Kings Day takes place tomorrow, Saturday October 18, at thousands of locations across the country and over 40 here in Texas. We've invited Hands Off Central Texas VP Melody Tramallo to join us for an inside look at the organizing of the Austin event in particular, what to expect, and best practices for a safe and effective experience for all attendees. A handy map of No Kings events: https://www.nokings.org/#map . Learn more about Hands Off Central Texas at https://www.hands...
Oct 17, 2025•11 min
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 say...
Oct 17, 2025•9 min
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 ...
Oct 16, 2025•20 min
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...
Oct 16, 2025•10 min
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...
Oct 15, 2025•9 min
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/ ....
Oct 15, 2025•29 min
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 apparen...
Oct 14, 2025•10 min
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 ...
Oct 13, 2025•56 min
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 e...
Oct 13, 2025•8 min
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/.
Oct 10, 2025•29 min
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-...
Oct 10, 2025•10 min
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! Lear...
Oct 09, 2025•38 min
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-1...
Oct 09, 2025•8 min
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 ht...
Oct 08, 2025•31 min
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-cells 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: ...
Oct 08, 2025•9 min
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-pritzker Congressman Wesley Hunt has jumped into the U.S. Senate r...
Oct 07, 2025•9 min
