Mission: Texas

Olivia Julianna, a Gen Z activist, strategist, and content creator based in Texas. Her work has reached millions online, and she's become one of the most recognizable young Democratic voices in the country. This week, Kate and Alex sit down with Olivia to talk about building a political movement in Texas, and why community is the foundation everything else gets built on. Olivia traces her origin s...

Olivia Julianna, a Gen Z activist, strategist, and content creator based in Texas. Her work has reached millions online, and she's become one of the most recognizable young Democratic voices in the country. This week, Kate and Alex sit down with Olivia to talk about building a political movement in Texas, and why community is the foundation everything else gets built on. Olivia traces her origin s...

Constitutional law attorney, voting rights expert, and former president of the Texas Civil Rights Project Mimi Marziani joins Kate and Alex to break down the Supreme Court's Callais decision — and what it means for Texas, for redistricting, and for democracy itself. Plus: Mimi's clients are refusing to be silenced, Alex's daughter turns four, and Kate announces she's hanging a shingle. What we dis...

Constitutional law attorney, voting rights expert, and former president of the Texas Civil Rights Project Mimi Marziani joins Kate and Alex to break down the Supreme Court's Callais decision — and what it means for Texas, for redistricting, and for democracy itself.  Plus: Mimi's clients are refusing to be silenced, Alex's daughter turns four, and Kate announces she's hanging a shingle. What...

Texas's 23rd congressional district just got a whole lot more interesting. Republican Congressman Tony Gonzalez resigned amid a sex scandal, leaving 800,000 Texans without representation — and Greg Abbott refuses to call a special election. Katy Padilla-Stout, a San Antonio attorney, former teacher, child welfare advocate, and mom of four, won a four-way Democratic primary outright on just $50K. N...

If you want to flip Texas, you have to win the Rio Grande Valley. This week on Mission: Texas, we're sitting down with Julio Salinas — 26 years old, son of a migrant farm worker, former Texas House legislative director, and the candidate who just shocked the entire RGV political establishment by finishing first in a three-way primary for Texas House District 41. He's heading into a runoff against...

This week, we're sitting down with Shelby Evans, the lead organizer behind Austin's No Kings rally, to find out how the movement actually works, who's showing up, and what comes next. Shelby breaks down the nuts and bolts of coalition organizing — the eight-week runway, the open call for artists and musicians, the trilingual programming in English, Spanish, and ASL, and the 80+ organizations that...

Junior Ezeonu just pulled off one of the most compelling primary upsets in recent Texas Democratic politics — defeating a 16-year incumbent in a safe blue seat, severely outspent, on grassroots power alone. Now he's headed to the Texas State House representing Texas House District 101, and he's got a roadmap for flipping the legislature by 2030. Kate and Alex sit down with the Grand Prairie city c...

Texas is unique in that it has two separate Supreme Courts: one for civil cases (the Texas Supreme Court) and one for criminal cases (the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals). Currently, both courts are composed entirely of Republican justices. And we elect these judges here.  In this episode, Kate and Alex interview three Democratic women seeking to bring balance to these courts: Holly Taylor (c...

What does it take to run for Texas Lieutenant Governor as a union negotiator and not a career politician? In this episode of Mission: Texas, Kate and Alex sit down with Marcos Velez, Democratic candidate for Texas Lieutenant Governor and Assistant Director of United Steelworkers District 13, ahead of the 2026 runoff election. Marcos brings a background unlike anyone else in the race: raised by a h...

This week on Mission: Texas, we sit down with Luke Warford, founder of the Agave Fund and former Democratic nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner, whose 2022 run turned heads nationally.  Luke breaks down why 2026 may be the perfect storm for Texas Democrats, what down-ballot candidates can learn from the Senate primary, and how the Agave Fund is building the infrastructure that actually wi...

In this episode of Mission: Texas, Kate and Alex sit down with Clayton Tucker, fifth-generation Texan rancher and the Democratic nominee for Texas Agriculture Commissioner — the candidate running to lower your grocery bill, protect Texas water, and bust the monopolies rigging the system. We discuss how just four corporations control the entire U.S. meat supply, why AI data centers are draining Tex...

In this episode of Mission: Texas , we break down the biggest takeaways from the Texas primaries with Michelle Davis, substack writer of Lone Star Left, and David De La Fuente, Dallas political strategist and podcast host of Loserville. We discuss the unexpectedly high Democratic turnout, why younger candidates are gaining traction across Texas, and what races revealed about where Texas Democrats...

In this episode of Mission: Texas, we sit down with Aimee Prudhomme, the new Executive Director of Powered by People, Beto O’Rourke’s volunteer-led organizing group built to flip Texas through human-to-human voter engagement. We talk about why registration is only step one, how relational organizing boosts turnout, and what it looks like to build long-term power across the whole state — not just t...

In this episode of Mission: Texas , we sit down with Jon Rosenthal, a four-term Texas state representative, engineer, and the Democratic nominee for Railroad Commissioner , to break down one of the most powerful and least understood offices in Texas government — and why it affects every Texan’s electric bill, safety, and environment. In this episode, we cover: What the Texas Railroad Commission ac...

Released at the start of Ramadan and during Texas primary season, this episode of Mission: Texas features host Alex Clark in conversation with Zeeshan Hafeez, a progressive Democrat running for Congress. They discuss what it means to run as a Muslim Texan, his race against Julie Johnson and Colin Allred, and the role of outside political spending, including AIPAC, in shaping primary contests. Note...

Texas primary season is underway, and Democrats just got a major win with the Senate District 9 special election.  In this episode of Mission: Texas , we’re joined by State Rep. Rafael Anchia , a multi-decade elected official, for a clear-eyed breakdown of the Texas Democratic Primaries and what the SD-9 result tells us about the road ahead.  Rep. Anchia has served with many of the peopl...

We finalize our interviews of all Attorney General candidates with Tony Box , a veteran, former FBI agent, former federal prosecutor, and Dallas-area dad.   We talk about what the AG’s office is supposed to do, and how it’s been distorted by decades of partisanship.   Tony shares his extraordinary personal story, from surviving a gunshot wound at 16, to serving as a tank commander , JAG...

In this episode, we’re joined by Joe Jaworski , candidate for Texas Attorney General and former Mayor of Galveston , for a wide-ranging conversation about what the Texas AG actually does — and what the office could do if Democrats take it back. We talk about: Joe's immigrant family history How power really works in Texas government — and how the AG can be an independent check Jaworski’s case for a...

What do Texas donors really want before they invest—and what will it take to fund a winning path for Democrats in Texas? In this episode of Mission: Texas , hosts Kate and Alex talk with leading Texas Democratic fundraisers Claire Dewar and Howard Klion about the donor mindset and the infrastructure needed to win long-term. In this episode: What Texas donors want to see before they give Why “big s...

On this episode of Mission: Texas , Kate and Alex sit down with Chris and Kathleen from Progress Texas —a 15-year-old progressive media organization (and podcast network) built to fight disinformation, keep attention on the long game, and help Texans stay engaged before, during, and after campaigns.  And we even play “Obsessed,” a game from our friends at "Pod Bless Texas," for a little holid...

Richardson Area Democrats (RAD) invited Mission: Texas to moderate a special panel of Democratic veterans and military civilians running for office across North Texas for an urgent, in-depth conversation about Venezuela, war powers, and the future of American democracy. Former service members and current candidates from Congress to the Texas House and Senate break down what’s happening, what it me...

As Texas heads into a pivotal election year, Kate and Alex kick off the new year with a special recap and resolutions episode inspired by The West Wing . From precinct chairs and working-class messaging to gun safety, faith, and grassroots turnout, this episode breaks down what Texas Democrats must do to actually win.  Channeling Sam, Toby, CJ, Josh, and President Bartlet, the hosts revisit t...

A Giffords leader, Army combat veteran, Texas gun owner, and Democrat Steven Kling joins Mission Texas to dismantle one of the biggest political myths in Texas — that being a Democrat is somehow in conflict with being a gun owner. Steve Kling of Giffords Gun Owners for Safety explains why common-sense gun safety laws protect the Second Amendment, preserve public trust in responsible gun ownership,...

In this episode of Mission: Texas , we talk with State Rep. Vikki Goodwin , a Democratic candidate for Texas Lieutenant Governor, about why this office holds outsized power in Texas politics and how that power impacts everyday Texans.  We also discuss Dan Patrick's leadership (or lack thereof) and how the past Democratic candidate, Mike Collier, is now running as an "independent." (right...)...