Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A Florida-based private school materials company has used a loophole to score funds from our new voucher scam: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/article/school-voucher-loophole-florida-virtual-22183576.php The Texas State Board of Education meets today in Austin to discuss a broad agenda: https://sboe.texas.gov/state-board-of-education/sboe-2026/sboe-2026-april/april-7-2026-committee-of-the-full-board ...The main...
Apr 07, 2026•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A crowd of over 2,000 protestors - and speakers of a surprisingly bipartisan range - took part in a Saturday demonstration against purported plans by the Trump administration to build border walls through Big Bend National Park and other sensitive parts of the region: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/05/texas-capitol-protest-big-bend-border-wall ...Assurances that the Trump administration is not planning a physical wall have not...
Apr 06, 2026•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Texas oil executives, in a recent industry poll, are both bullish on recent profits and production, but also highly uncertain about future prospects due to the Trump war in Iran: https://www.wfaa.com/article/money/business/right-on-the-money/how-texas-oil-gas-executives-feel-about-war-with-iran/287-df0ccee4-9c21-4a6e-9e04-3684d348724a ...Those same oil executives now have a clear lane to choose profit over marine life in the Gulf, as their ...
Apr 03, 2026•10 min
Fresh off her recent appearance at SXSW in Austin alongside progressive legend Stacey Abrams, we're proud to have a talk with Skye Perryman: a Waco native and president and CEO of Democracy Forward, a leading legal organization based in Washington, D.C., known for wielding their expert litigation and policy advocacy to challenge executive overreach and protect democratic institutions. Skye was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2025 - and after you hear our conversation, you'll u...
Apr 03, 2026•30 min
We hate to be an "I Told You So", but we did tell you and tell you AND TELL YOU that the decades-in-the-making plan to divert public school tax dollars to exclusive and frequently parochial private schools was not about "educational freedom" - it was about a rebate on the private school tuition that wealthy Texans have already chosen, and a review of the applicants in this first go-round appear to be primed to play those progressive warnings out. Also - big AI techs have been quietly funding Rep...
Apr 03, 2026•32 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Data from the initial field of applicants for Texas' new private school voucher program shows that the vast majority of them are families whose kids already attend private schools: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/04/01/texas-voucher-applications-demographics/ Governor Abbott - as expected - is all in on Donald Trump's plan to undermine mail-in voting ahead of the midterm elections: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/t...
Apr 02, 2026•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Donald Trump's executive order undermining mail-in voting will face legal challenges in many states - but probably not in Texas: https://www.votebeat.org/national/2026/03/31/donald-trump-2026-midterm-election-executive-order-absentee-mail-ballots-postal-service-citizenship-list/ Governor Abbott has sent out a fundraising letter to supporters in a full panic over Democrats outvoting Republicans in the March primary: https://www.reddit.com/r/...
Apr 01, 2026•10 min
As federal authoritarianism threatens civil rights, immigration, and economic justice, cities are stepping up to defend democracy. If democracy survives this moment, it will be because cities held the line. District 2 Austin City Councilmember Vanessa Fuentes, at-Large Philadelphia City Councilmember Kendra Brooks, and Ward 9 Minneapolis City Councilmember Jason Chavez gathered during SXSW 2026 in Austin to share diverse, frontline perspectives in this conversation moderated by Francesca Menes, ...
Apr 01, 2026•1 hr 3 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Ken Paxton has been lobbying hard for the endorsement of Donald Trump, including trips to Mar-A-Lago to brown nose - both he and Senator John Cornyn have also been making huge media buys in Floriday in efforts to make Trump's TV: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas-take/article/ken-paxton-nudge-president-trump-endorse-22155808.php The usual West Texas oil billionaires - Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks - have also been dumping money in...
Mar 31, 2026•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: An estimated 8 million people attended No Kings events on Saturday - a solid indicator that Donald Trump and MAGA are in for a rough November: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq8wy7g1gd1o ...Things were mostly peaceful but notably, there was one arrest in Dallas resulting from a clash with Proud Boy-type counter-protestors: https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/no-kings-events-peacefully-draw-millions-e-dallas-skirmish-arrest-grabs-attentio...
Mar 30, 2026•11 min
The second pod presentation from last weekend's Harris County Democratic Party Convention is a live take of the panel of featured speakers, who brought incredible energy to a packed ballroom at the University of Houston: 00:55: Host and Harris County Democratic Party Convention Executive Director Jeff Hilton 03:09: Emcee and Lincoln Project Co-founder Rick Wilson 07:15: Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones 13:30: Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia 18:13: Harris County Democratic Party...
Mar 29, 2026•53 min
The 11th Congressional District is one of those wildly gerrymandered and gigantic slices of Texas designed to amplify GOP power in rural areas while diminishing the more progressive voices in our urban areas - in this case, stretching from the Permian oil patch all the way through north Austin and Pflugerville. Just so happens, the long-time GOP nominee is August Pfluger, a lockstep Trump puppet who has gone without a challenger in his last two elections - but not this year. Claire Reynolds is a...
Mar 28, 2026•22 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Saturday will see over 3,000 No Kings rallies and events held across the country with a new all-time attendance record expected: https://time.com/article/2026/03/26/no-kings-protests-cities-where/ ...About San Antonio: https://www.sacurrent.com/news/san-antonio-news/next-san-antonio-no-kings-protest-scheduled-for-saturday-march-28/ ...About Dallas/Fort Worth: https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/north-texas-no-kings-protests-when-where-what-...
Mar 27, 2026•8 min
Lately, Jesus has taken the wheel of politics at both the state and federal level - from Pete Hegseth's pastor wishing God's lethal wrath upon James Talarico while his disciple wages holy war in Iran, to Ken Paxton and Kelly Hancock squabbling over how best to discriminate against Texas Muslims, to Dan Patrick's new Senate committee on religious freedom - formed mostly from Republicans well-versed in imposing their religion on your freedom - Christ, it's been a week. Thanks for listening! Learn ...
Mar 27, 2026•28 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A Trump-appointed federal judge has upheld a longstanding Texas law forbidding the carrying of guns into bars, stadiums, school events and other "sensitive places", after Ken Paxton refused to defend a challenge to it: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/judge-upholds-texas-firearm-ban-for-bars-schools-stadiums Austin Congressman Greg Casar is joined by California Congressman Robert Garcia in demanding an investigation into the federal...
Mar 26, 2026•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Evangelical Pastor Brooks Potteiger, a close spiritual advisor to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, agreed with a podcast host wish for Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate James Talarico, "that God kills him": https://www.sacurrent.com/news/texas-news/pete-hegseths-pastor-wants-james-talarico-to-die/ ...Talarico's calm, very Christian response was gold: https://x.com/jamestalarico/status/2036647988182036730?s=20 Lt. Governor Dan Patrick has as...
Mar 25, 2026•10 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: That explosion at a Valero oil refinery in Port Arthur comes just as much of the world's supply has been choked off by the bumbling of Donald Trump: https://x.com/jon_rosenthaltx/status/2036266795569459210?s=46 ...Meanwhile, as natural gas shortages and price spikes are hitting Europe and Asia, West Texas oil companies are burning it off as a price-negative nuisance byproduct: https://fortune.com/2026/03/22/natural-gas-prices-negative-west-...
Mar 24, 2026•10 min
We had a blast in Houston over the weekend as media partners of the Harris County Democratic Party Convention! Later this week, watch for a recording of all the speeches given in the convention hall - but we start with all of the interviews with lawmakers, thought leaders, candidates and more that we gathered over the course of the day! These are presented in the order we recorded them, between 9am and about 4pm on Saturday March 21. 00:40 - Ann Johnson, Houston State Representative, District 13...
Mar 24, 2026•1 hr 40 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: In an escalation against Democratically-led cities, the Trump administration is deploying ICE agents into those cities' airports - supposedly to help with long security lines, but really as a means to intimidate travelers: https://viewfromthewing.com/ice-is-showing-up-at-airport-checkpoints-your-rights-are-different-than-with-tsa/ ...Meanwhile Dallas Congressman Marc Veasey is demanding clarity on whether or not an ICE prosecuter nailed for...
Mar 23, 2026•10 min
All of us at Progress Texas are looking forward to seeing a bunch of great friends and making a bunch of brand new ones this weekend at the Harris and Collin County Democratic Party conventions, in Houston and McKinney respectively. These events are open and FREE with registration to the public and can be considered a terrific gateway into higher levels of involvement at this critical time - we hope to see YOU there. And, the news regarding Cesar Chavez's abuse of women is difficult to deal with...
Mar 20, 2026•29 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Energy producers around Corpus Christi already consume over half of the area's water - and as supplies dwindle, they're taking steps to greedily keep theirs flowing: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/03/20/texas-corpus-christi-water-shortage-oil-gas-refineries/ With another round of No Kings protests coming next weekend, progressive activists warily consider the Fort Worth "Antifa" verdict, which paves the way for more aggressive persecutio...
Mar 20, 2026•11 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Governor Greg Abbott achieves new heights of hypocrisy in his attempt to use sexual abuse revelations about Cesar Chavez to smear all progressives and unions, while continuing to turn a blind eye to Donald Trump's copious appearances in the Epstein files: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/03/18/cesar-chavez-day-texas-fallout-sexual-abuse-allegations/ Twisting logic to claim a victory from the chaos of the March 3 primary, Dallas County Repu...
Mar 19, 2026•9 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Arguing in favor of the SAVE America Act as Senate debate began yesterday, Ted Cruz repeated the standard GOP lie that Democrats are systematically encouraging undocumented people to vote in the U.S. - it's simply and demonstrably false: https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/ted-cruz-democrats-want-illegal-aliens-to-cast-votes/ The Republican primary runoff ballot is now set, as the deadline to drop out passed yesterday - with no Trum...
Mar 18, 2026•10 min
All across Texas this weekend - Friday March 20 thru Sunday March 21 - county-level conventions are being held by the Texas Democratic Party. It's a terrific (and free!) way to dive into progressive politics, and an especially fun way as a bright blue wave appears to be building across the Lone Star State. Joining us to talk about their individual events and all the reasons that YOU should attend YOUR county event are Mary Higbe, Vice Chair of the Collin County Democratic Party, and Jeff Hilton,...
Mar 17, 2026•28 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: 5pm today is the deadline for primary runoff candidates to remove their names from the May ballot, establishing a deadline of for either John Cornyn or Ken Paxton to drop on on the orders of Donald Trump: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/trump-endorsement-texas-senate-runoff-22079256.php ...Cornyn attempted to soothe the irritation of Austin TSA workers yesterday with cold hamburgers: https://www.chron.com/news/articl...
Mar 17, 2026•8 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The trial of nine "Antifa" defendants in a federal trial held in Fort Worth were largely found guilty of charges against them on Friday, except for a charge of attempted murder, of which only one was convicted: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/us/antifa-protesters-terrorism.html A marathon debate session is set in the U.S. Senate for discussion and an eventual floor vote on the SAVE America Act - legislation that Donald Trump has characte...
Mar 16, 2026•12 min
Texas is an anti-worker state, and working Texans are tired of being trampled by billionaire-bought politicians and interests. You can see it in support of a more affordable Texas: public education that sets our children up for success, quality jobs that pay a living wage, environmental protections that shield us all from pollution, and justice for our citizen and immigrant neighbors under attack. It’s clear that tides are changing, and with it, union membership is at the highest it’s been in 25...
Mar 14, 2026•30 min
A theme has emerged this week: as the Dallas County Democratic Party throws in the towel on a lawsuit over denied voting access on primary Election Night, judging the Republican-dominated Texas Supreme Court a hostile venue for that complaint - while our senior Senator John Cornyn reverses himself on the filibuster out of pressure from Donald Trump and Ken Paxton to pass the SAVE America Act, which will allow the GOP to disenfranchise untold millions of American voters - the very foundation of o...
Mar 13, 2026•31 min
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Texas Tribune collects a lineup of Talarico-isms currently being distorted and twisted by Republicans, who clearly see their reign over Texas under dire threat by the Democratic nominee for Senate: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/03/12/james-talarico-texas-senate-republicans-attacks-god-is-nonbinary/ ...They've also conjured a super-creepy and uncanny Talarico doppelganger via AI to deliver these supposedly-controversial lines: https:...
Mar 13, 2026•10 min
Among the midterm races that in cycles of yore might have seemed without hope for Democrats - but considering the massive outpouring of primary interest this year, suddenly seem possible - is Texas House District 112 in the northeast Dallas area, where widespread dissatisfaction with longtime Republican incumbent Angie Chen Button couples with that Democratic momentum to give nominee Zach Herbert a fair shot. Zach is an attorney, an entrepreneur, a veteran and a community leader - we enjoyed mee...
Mar 12, 2026•18 min
