Progress Texas Podcasts

As, promised, here's our full capture of Friday night's rally at the Delco Center in northeast Austin, hosted by Powered By People, and featuring in order: 01:06 - Travis County Democratic Party Chair Doug Greco 04:39 - Austin State Representative Gina Hinojosa 16:06 - Round Rock State Representative James Talarico 29:39 - Austin Congressman Greg Casar 37:10 - Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett...

This week's kvetch is a rare LIVE kvetch, as the team warmed up to capture Powered By People's rally on Friday night at Austin ISD's Delco Center. As we awaited a who's who of Texas progressive politics: Beto O'Rourke, Joaquin Castro, Jasmine Crockett, James Talarico, Greg Casar, Gina Hinojosa and new Travis County Democratic Party Chair Doug Greco, we covered the events of a w...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: At the conclusion of last night's contentious hearing on Texas Republicans' push to redraw our congressional maps - at the behest of Donald Trump and with no actual maps to show - Isaiah Martin, one of the Democratic candidates for Houston's District 18, was taken to the floor twice by Capitol security and arrested by DPS on m...

There's probably no elected Democrat in all of Texas who has been a more frequent target of right wing smear attacks than José Garza, currently in his second term as Travis Country District Attorney. He's also a great example of how, when one becomes such a lightning rod for MAGA, one is probably doing excellent work - Travis County and Austin are the safest they've been in years, and...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: When they return from summer recess on August 18, lawmakers in California will immediately faced with tough decisions on how to respond to Texas redistricting: https://www.kcra.com/article/texas-redistricting-hearings-newsom-decides-california/65493018 After getting first to Trump's priorities, Texas Republicans finally got around to lesser c...

State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio was one of the primary captains of the 2021 Texas Democratic quorum break, staged in resistance against Republican attacks on voting access. Now, as the Texas Legislature considers mid-decade redistricting, he may soon be experiencing deja vu. We talk with Rep. Martinez Fischer about the Trump-directed assault on decades of civil rights advances, wha...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: As the Trump-ordered redistricting push continues with the special session, Democrats are weighing options - the primary of which is to break quorum: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas-take/article/texas-democrats-ready-anything-block-redistricting-20779102.php ...What's the Bible say about undermining democracy via redistricting...

State Senator Molly Cook returned to work as an emergency nurse in her hometown of Houston at the conclusion of her freshman session a few weeks ago - only to be dragged back to the Capitol for a special session that, turns out, is a lot more about Governor Abbott doing the bidding of Donald Trump than helping Hill Country flood victims, or even addressing Dan Patrick's stupid THC ban. Senator...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Day 1 of the special session saw a full court press on redistricting - no movement on flood relief, or any other issue: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/us/politics/texas-redistricting-floods.html ...Rigging maps to win elections is tantamount to totalitarianism - "democracy thrives or dies on how we draw political districts":...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The scene on the opening day off what could be a contentious and historic special legislation: a massive menu of MAGA red meat, with only 30 days for Republicans to grind it out: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/21/texas-legislature-special-session-floods-redistricting-thc/ ...Of course, if they don't make that deadline, Governor Abbott c...

As we hit another Friday in the wild wild West of Texas politics, we do so with a wary eye towards Monday - the day that a special legislative session called by Governor Greg Abbott begins. A session originally to handle Dan's Ban, then to address the obvious need for flood emergency apparatus in our river basins, then to a giant pile of MAGA red meat - including a Donald Trump-ordered carving of...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Will the special session, partly dedicated to a Trump-ordered mid-decade redistricting start on Monday, or will Democrats walk out? The history of Democratic quorum breaks in Texas is interesting, including in the summer of 2021: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/07/14/texas-democrats-walkout-quorum/#:~:text=On%20July%2012%2C%20Texas%20Ho...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Desperate measures may be called for to opposed mid-decade GOP redistricting, but breaking quorum now comes with stiff financial penalties: https://woai.iheart.com/featured/san-antonios-first-news/content/2025-07-16-will-texas-democrats-attempt-to-break-quorum-during-the-special-session/ ...Supreme Court Justice John Roberts is a central...

Former Galveston mayor, Houston-area attorney and longtime progressive activist Joe Jaworski joins us to announce his run for Texas Attorney General in 2026! Learn more about Joe's campaign at https://www.jaworskifortexas.com/. Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Drama building for the special session, as Democrats consider breaking quorum to block a Trump-ordered redistricting scheme - including : https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/us/politics/texas-redistricting-trump.html ...Ken Paxton is threatening to "hunt down" any Democrats fleeing the session, while the plan itself could result...

Progressives across Texas are taking note of the recent return of former Tarrant County Democratic Party Chair Allison Campolo to that important post. As the political tides turn across the nation, a flip in Tarrant County would likely be a harbinger of even more widespread and long-overdue change across the Lone Star State, so having an experienced progressive fighter (and actual Kung Fu champion...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Flood recovery efforts have resumed amidst great uncertainty about how long it will take, or whether it's possible, to recover the rest of the estimated 100 who remain missing: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/14/texas-flood-missing-update/ Food banks in Austin, San Antonio and elsewhere, at a moment when their services will be in...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The July 4 flood death toll rose to 132 as new flooding stopped recovery efforts on Sunday: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/texas-flooding-map-lampasas-river-trump-fema-death-toll-latest-b2788441.html Families of victims who are still missing are beginning to come to terms that Governor Abbott's pledge to recover all...

In this episode of the Progress Texas Happy Hour, we’re honored to welcome Michael Wilmore-Crumrine, President of the Lesbian & Gay Peace Officers Association – Austin (LGPOA-Austin). Under Michael’s leadership, LGPOA-Austin is preparing to host the 2025 World LGBTQI+ Conference for Criminal Justice Professionals — marking the first time this international gathering will take place in the Unit...

This week's blowing off of the collective steam is especially cathartic, having come at the end of a week in which we watched the horrible situation in Central Texas get worse, and worse...and worse. State Senator Angela Paxton dumps her cheating husband at long last, Colin Allred appears to be playing the same old playbook, and yet another massive tragedy strikes Texas, complete with the loss of...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A full week after the fact, Donald Trump is visiting Texas today to observe the flood damage in Kerr County: https://apnews.com/article/trump-texas-floods-fema-phase-out-b77d9681d2d39f8c201351b54ecf944f ...The Kerr County Sheriff's Department took a full 90 minutes to relay a flood warning called in by a firefighter in Ingram as the f...

Difficult conversations should take place in all regions of a diverse state like Texas, especially after 30-plus years of one party rule. Beyond placing blame on rural regions or certain sects of historically Democratic voters, we should first take a deep look inwards and be ready to listen to those different from ourselves.  Last month, over a hundred Democratic county party chairs, rural organiz...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The death toll of the July 4 flood disaster has risen to 120, but is still exceeded by the number of missing, which remains over 150: https://www.cnn.com/weather/live-news/texas-flooding-camp-mystic-07-10-25 ...New policies imposed upon FEMA by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appear to have created a 72-hour delay in the agency&#3...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The number of missing people in the July 4 floods has jumped dramatically, from about 40 yesterday to 173: https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/texas-flooding-updates-13-dead-20-campers-unaccounted/?id=123488468 ...A team of firefighters and responders from Mexico have traveled north to join the search and recovery effort: https://www.t...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Day five of the recovery effort in Kerr County begins as the July 4 floods become the deadliest rain-related flood in the U.S. in almost 50 years: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/texas-flooding-camp-mystic-map-death-toll-victims-latest-news-b2784433.html Local officials in Kerrville have continued to deflect questions ab...