Progress Texas Podcasts

On the heels of a Democrat-associated poll favoring James Talarico in his run for Senate against Ken Paxton, a poll sanctioned by Fox News also puts the Democrat in the lead. Senator John Cornyn maintains his defiance of Donald Trump and reminds the president that the midterms are coming. And Texas Tech defies open records requests for information about the renaming of their football stadium after...

When one considers that the doctrine of the separation of church and state, interpreted from the U.S. Constitution, protects both the right to freely worship AND the right not to have the religious beliefs of others incorporated into law - one might also consider that it might be a bad move for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to have declared war upon it. We discuss with Progress Texas Board Member and Secul...

Despite reports from social media influencers, as of this morning, the Ken Paxton campaign has still not accepted times or terms for a debate with James Talarico. Texas has joined 11 other Republican-controlled states in a SCOTUS appeal for them to allow Donald Trump to place harsh new limits on mail-in voting. John Cornyn has helped stymie the confirmation of Todd Blanche, Trump's choice for...

New polling has Democrat James Talarico ahead of Republican Ken Paxton in the race for the U.S. Senate by five percentage points, and shows Talarico performing well among independent and moderate voters. Renewable energy has been pulling Texas' fat out of the fire this summer - but will that continue under the strain of hundreds of data centers? Governor Abbott is under building pressure to ca...

A strange moment indeed in Texas, as our top two elected officials - Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick - have both openly declared war on the U.S. Constitution: Patrick in his assault on the separation of church and state, and Abbott in his zealous quest against birthright citizenship via "birth tourism" - a harmless, statistically insignificant non-issue. Texas Tribune:...

The Texas Water Development Board doesn't have enough information about data center demand to include it in our resource projections, and they seem okay with that. A new college admissions test that emphasizes ideology over academics is approved for Texas' public universities. South Texas appears primed for a seismic shift away from Trump and the GOP, while Democratic nominee Bobby Pulido&...

Governor Greg Abbott has pivoted his campaign rhetoric to a call for limits on data centers - but he fails to use the power he has right now to do anything to slow their explosive spread. Meanwhile, Ken Paxton is desperately fundraising outside the state as James Talarico out-raises him 3 to 1 at home - Paxton is apparently doing all he can to avoid a live debate. KXAN Austin: https://www.kxan.com...

After Tuesday's disastrous press conference, from which Ken Paxton fled even basic questions from the press amidst the skirts of his handler - how on Earth does he expect to face equally insistent moderators, across a stage from James Talarico, before a huge live and televised audience, at a Senatorial debate? On our weekly roundtable this week, we dive deep into this important and extremely a...

An analysis of the personal wealth of 15 first-time congressional candidates from Texas shows that only the rich can easily run for office, while Elon Musk dumps billions into GOP candidates and right wing PACs - and boorish billionaire behavior is fueling a growing populist backlash. Texas Tribune: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/07/22/texas-congress-delegation-net-worth-millionaires-2026-midte...

The full collapse of a press conference featuring Ken Paxton and a large group of Texas county sheriffs is a must-watch. After reading a lengthy statement smearing James Talarico, Paxton's handler abruptly canceled the presser after just two questions from the press didn't follow his chosen law enforcement narrative. The two questions concerned Paxton's recent real estate acquisitions,...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: James Talarico's outreach event for Black voters in Houston on Sunday featured a pledge to spend $25 million on a continued embrace of that community - and the majority of the tension present was provided by a single political influencer who has based her online persona largely on her personal disdain for the nominee: https://www.texastribune...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: James Talarico has accepted three invitations from TV operators to engage in debate with Ken Paxton, while the Paxton camp agrees that debates "should" happen, but has not confirmed any of those dates: https://www.fox7austin.com/news/james-talarico-challenges-ken-paxton-3-televised-texas-senate-debates ...Texas Senate debates have not favored...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: With a second consecutive year of disastrous flooding impacting Texas, fears grow that a "new normal" may have been established via climate change: https://www.kbtx.com/2026/07/17/texas-hill-country-floods-again-back-to-back-disasters-raise-alarm-over-future-storms/ ...Two deaths related to the flooding are reported - a tragedy, but one that...

Who is this guy - and what has he done with Governor Greg Abbott? In recent weeks - clearly in an election year panic of sorts - our Governor has been flip-flopping like crazy: he's been condemning the impacts of data centers - the very same data centers he's lured to Texas for years with generous incentives and kickbacks. He's tempted blowback from Donald Trump in admitting out loud t...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Significant and dangerous flooding has struck Texas, just over a year after a catastrophic flood at about the same time in 2025: https://www.youtube.com/live/2Fj-1_tGtIw Victor Salgado, the brother of Houston ICE shooting victim Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, has offered new disputes against the agency's account of the incident: https://www.khou.com...

Stories we're following this morning: Donald Trump will attempt to re-invigorate his years-long conspiracy theories about the 2020 election in his address to the nation on Thursday night: https://www.npr.org/2026/07/15/nx-s1-5894580/trump-elections-primetime-address ...Part of the plan is to release unvetted intelligence documents as evidence of election fraud: https://www.ms.now/news/trump-speech...

We're continuing to dig through the mountain of content we accumulated during the Texas Democratic Convention in Corpus Christi, and up next are the full remarks from Friday from Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico. Rep. Talarico, as you know, has inspired a full panic attack on the American right, whose only counter to his solid, steady, and strong messages of leadership and change...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: An annual quality of life study by CNBC gives Texas an "F" and ranks us the second-worst state in which to live in the U.S.: https://www.chron.com/texas/article/texas-worst-states-2026-22342359.php ...In their business survey, Texas is #4 - proving that economic success does not guarantee a good quality of life for most people:...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A Texas Tribune piece on nine Republicans who voted for Senator John Cornyn in the primary finds three swinging to James Talarico, three sticking with Ken Paxton, and three opting for neither: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/07/13/texas-gop-voters-john-cornyn-ken-paxton-james-talarico-us-senate/ ...Meanwhile Latino business owners in Te...

Austin State Rep. Gina Hinojosa is the Democratic nominee to replace Governor Greg Abbott, and to bring a screeching halt to the mountain of corporate corruption that has become the hallmark of his administration - starting immediately with $1,500 checks to be sent to every Texas household from the Texas Rainy Day Fund, which has become a repository for the hoarding of billions upon billions of YO...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, shot to death on Tuesday in Houston by ICE agents, has formally been declared a homicide: https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2026/07/09/harris-county-medical-examiner-rules-death-of-lorenzo-salgado-araujo-a-homicide/ ...Three eyewitnesses, including Salgado Araujo's brother, contradict ICE cl...

Widespread speculation spread rapidly upon the announcement of Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson's abrupt and largely unexplained planned departure from her office - weird timing for the state's top election official, just months before a monumental election, right? But, in steps Christian nationalist spokesmodel Nate Schatzline, who has no experience with running elections - but is a c...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Grief, frustration and rising anger are seen across the Houston community in the wake of the ICE killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/08/texas-ice-shooting-victim-son ...A large gathering convened in vigil last night on Houston's Canal Street, where the shooting occurred on Tuesday morning: h...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: In a tragically familiar scenario, another killing by ICE of a Texas motorist - this time Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who had lived in Houston since 1993: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ice-agent-fatally-shoots-mexican-motorist-texas-during-vehicle-stop-agency-says-2026-07-07/ ...A large group of Houston elected leaders and advocacy groups...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: In thanking Donald Trump for interfering with FIFA in a USMNT red card, Ted Cruz jinxed the team into an embarrassing defeat in the World Cup: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-sen-cruz-thanks-trump-for-getting-rid-of-folarin-baloguns-world-cup-red-card Governor Greg Abbott's reversal on data centers is nothing but talk, sho...