Progress Texas Podcasts

Michelle Davis, with her Lone Star Left Substack, has a keen eye for drawing sharply-focused concepts out of the muck and mess of Texas politics. In a recent post, she pointed out that three Texas Republican Congressmen - Jake Ellzey, Michael Cloud and John Carter - as members of the House Appropriations Committee, voted to kill border construction exemption for Big Bend National Park that was pro...

The Cook Political Report has updated its projections for the 2026 midterms, moving the Talarico/Paxton race to "toss up" from "lean republican", and the Hinojosa/Abbott race from "solid Republican" to "lean Republican". Ken Paxton is expected to receive some desperately-needing funding support from Elon Musk. Republicans are threading a narrative needle on...

Someone check Governor Greg Abbott for whiplash! He's been doing some pretty rad campaign trail 180's lately in response to rapidly changing political headwinds - first, he expects us to believe he's now going to crack down on the billions of dollars in AI data centers he lured to Texas to begin with. And, we're to buy the idea that he would even remotely defy Donald Trump's pl...

Governor Greg Abbott wants more state control over local ISD spending, despite ongoing GOP efforts to defund them to death - while Lt. Governor Dan Patrick threatens schools who refuse to remove books he considers "filthy and dirty" with state takeovers. State water plans, based on historical trends instead of proven climate science, are failing cities like Corpus Christi. And rural Texa...

Governor Greg Abbott has refused to extradite an ICE agent to Minnesota, where he is wanted on a felony indictment. Harris County is suing the feds over their holding funding hostage over election policy demands. A Republican nominee wants you to ignore the fact that he's a Republican - while the entire GOP just wants to get past the election and get back to their comfy corruption and grift. H...

Back to school - and backwards thinking - happening right now as students across the state return to school facing new policies and voucher programs in place, the threat or consequences of state takeovers combined with defunded public schools, and a multi-pronged attempt to indoctrinate Texas children into Christian Nationalist, Prager U-infused curriculum. We’re joined by guests Cameron Samuels,...

The halt of the destructive federally-contracted demolition of the natural landscape of Big Bend National Park, announced yesterday, is only temporary and not a reason for advocates to stand down. The U.S. Supreme Court may consider SB 10, the state law that requires the posting of the Ten Commandments in Texas classrooms. Hood County joins a list of Texas communities unplugging their Flock camera...

South Carolina was officially approved to lead the 2028 presidential primary calendar on Saturday at the DNC 2026 Summer Meeting in Austin. All of Texas seems in uproar over the border construction in the Big Bend region - except for Governor Greg Abbott. The Texas Supreme Court will allow Galveston County Republicans to redraw their local election maps, even though their primaries have already ha...

Serving as mayor of Austin from 2015 to 2023, Progress Texas co-founder Steve Adler indeed sat on a very hot seat - during which he navigated the fastest-growing city in the nation through the beginning of the Trump era, the COVID-19 pandemic, Winter Storm Uri, the George Floyd moment, and lots more. Mayor Adler joins us to talk about that time, and how it reflects upon our current moment, as he p...

Civitech Present: A Live Podcast With Democratic State Leaders We captured a live conversation yesterday at beloved Antone's in downtown Austin as the Democratic National Committee sweats through its 2026 DNC Summer Meeting - stand by for a great talk on how today’s technology can be harnessed to expand voter participation for 2026 and beyond, with Civitech CEO Jeremy Smith, South Carolina Dem...

The 5th Circuit Court Of Appeals has restored SB 1 - the 2021 Texas law that establishes strict registration requirements for mail-in voting registration, and other voting obstacles. The NAACP's Legal Defense Fund and other voting rights and disability advocates are condemning the decision. Meanwhile data about Texas' new private school voucher program - where it can be deciphered through...

On this week's In Progress roundtable, we gather two of our foremost authorities on Far West Texas - former Progress Texas staffer and Alpine City Councilman Reagan Stone, and Dallas attorney and prominent Big Bend defender Bill Holston - for a deep dive on what's happening with the steamrolling of unnecessary and destructive border wall and surveillance construction in one of the most pri...

Ken Paxton's campaign has missed a deadline to accept one of three proposed debates ahead of the midterm election against Democratic nominee James Talarico. Paxton has also been found to have accepted six-figure campaign donations from data center executives and PAC's related to a pending legal opinion from his office related to Hood County. And a popular Fort Worth progressive podcaster just scor...

Here comes a special live pod from San Antonio last night and the launch rally for Latinas for Gina Hinojosa - a brand new campaign initiative to help elect the first Latina governor in Texas state history, led by the Latino Victory Fund Texas PAC. Great time at the Woodlawn Theater, which we learned is the biggest comedy club in all these United States! In this podcast, the five primary speakers:...

Heavy bulldozers are now tearing through ecologically and historically-sensitive parts of Big Bend National Park to build unnecessary border infrastructure, while the opposition of Texans of both parties goes ignored by Donald Trump. And a source of Ken Paxton's mysterious wealth may have been revealed - a cell tower built on the property of a hospital where Paxton was serving as a board member wh...

Over 1 million Texans are on the Texas "suspense list" - meaning, the state is uncertain of their registration details, and they're at risk of being kicked off the voter rolls. Republicans are preparing an unusually hostile legislative agenda aimed at Texas Muslims. And Ken Paxton's tax proposals will benefit only about 10% of taxpayers and exacerbate both inflation and interest...

What kind of leader do you want representing your communities? What are your top issues as a voter? These are just some of the questions that members of the Texas Legislative Progressive Caucus (TLPC) are asking all around the state on their “People’s Hearings” this summer - they're ready to listen in, take those ideas back to our Legislature, and put progressive policies to work. State Reps J...

A new poll done by ReconMR and Texas A&M's Bush School shows strong Democratic performance with James Talarico and Vikki Goodwin up on their GOP opponents and Gina Hinojosa trailing Governor Greg Abbott by a single point. Republican hubris and failure to acknowledge the economic pain of everyday Americans is seen as their potential undoing this fall. Latinos in Harris County - as much or m...

DFW has been the chaotic center of this week’s news, and today’s top story is no exception: with conservative-driven culture wars crusading in our county governments. We report on the rise in Islamophobia across county governments, and as touted by top leaders in the Republican Party. Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Fort Worth Report: https://fortworthreport.org/2026/08...

This week we take a look at how the Texas Republican Party, in a full panic over the prospects of the end of 30 years of dominance, will be unlikely to go gentle into that good night. We've already seen aggressive redistricting and drastic attempts to limit voting access. Still in the bag of tricks: direct polling location intimidation by federal troops, legal shenanigans and more. We're j...

Election and education updates today, starting with the top-ballot candidates running for John Cornyn’s Senate Seat, with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and State Rep. James Talarico each releasing their own economic agenda. Meanwhile, two updates on public and higher education: regarding a voucher program report and new lawsuit against Texas A&M. Stories we're following this morning at...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Fort Worth Report: https://fortworthreport.org/2026/08/04/tarrant-county-commissioners-delay-vote-on-polling-sites-for-november-election/ Lone Star Left: https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/ohare-caves-under-pressure-tables Rep. Vikki Goodwin: https://www.instagram.com/p/DboHhIdKD-n/ Marfa Public Radio: https://www.marfapublicradio.org/news/20...

A three-for-one today, as we feature the speeches and Q&A sessions captured last week at the UnidosUS 2026 Annual Conference in Austin! UnidosUS is the largest nonpartisan Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, advancing social, economic, and political opportunities for Latinos, and we were proud to be invited to cover. In this pod, Unidos President and CEO, Jane...

The Republican-dominated Tarrant County Commissioner's Court will vote today on a proposal to eliminate almost half of the county's Election Day polling locations, with a focus on Black, Brown and student-concentrated areas. Governor Greg Abbott has called a halt to data center developments for an audit, but has taken no steps to change the loose regulations he has himself signed off on. B...

As of Friday, Texas Republicans have reclassified a range of popular hemp-derived THC products like Delta-8 as Schedule I substances - possession of them is now a felony. Driven by millions in campaign contributions, the wholesale alcohol lobby has persuaded Republican leaders to eliminate hemp competition and protect their state-sanctioned distribution monopoly. Listeners can fight back by bypass...