Progress Texas Podcasts

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: At a moment of dire environmental and cost of living threats against everyday Texans, Ken Paxton has challenged James Talarico to a BBQ eating contest: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/06/17/paxton-talarico-senate-campaign-texas-barbecue/90568148007/ Data centers make strange bedfellows as outgoing Republican Ag Commi...

The Lieutenant Governor is by most measures the most powerful office in Texas' state government structure. With full control over the agenda of the state Senate, nothing gets through our legislative process without the Lt. Governor's approval - so, placing a Democrat in that position would signal a fundamental change in the Legislature's ongoing and intolerable reality. Austin State Re...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: During last weekend's Texas Republican Convention, party leaders made it clear: Muslims are not welcome in their caucus, and as far as they're concerned, Muslims aren't welcome in Texas: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/06/15/texas-republican-party-convention-muslims-sharia-law/ ...We talked to the Reverend Mara Richards Bim...

At a moment when the Texas Republican Party is directly writing the destruction of the separation of church and state into their party platform, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is announcing that Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico is "going to hell" because of his progressive Christian leanings, the current political conflict in Texas could rightly be defined as the Christian Nationalists...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Attempts to inspire unity at the Texas Republican Convention appear insufficient to mask the division among the GOP faithful, as the hardest of hardline elements take full control: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/06/14/texas-gop-convention-houston-2026/ ...Lt. Governor Dan Patrick told the crowd that James Talarico is "going to hel...

Between the Texas data center boom - and Corpus Christi on track to become the first modern city to run completely dry - access to fresh water is a top ticket item for Texans this election year, and also going into the next Legislative session in 2027. Dr. Evgenia Spears, Water Program Coordinator for the Lone Star Sierra Club, joins us for a deep dive on the real state of our state's water su...

We've enjoyed getting to know veteran, intelligence expert and proud family man Kevin Burge this election season - he was one of the SIX Progress Texas runoff endorsees to secure his Democratic nomination - and in Kevin's case, by a whopping and record-setting 78%. Kevin Burge is now running hard in TX-24 (much of the northern section of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex) to replace MAGA darling and...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: As the Texas Republican Convention continues in Houston, the party's traditionalist wing is showing signs of resistance against the MAGA takeover of the GOP, including former Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley: https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-texas-el-paso/news/2026/06/11/former-gop-official-says-he-won-t-vote-for-paxton-in-ad ....

When we talk about the basic American right of a trial by a "jury of our peers" - what exactly does that mean? And, do we believe that Karmelo Anthony received such a trial - one he was due by Constitutional right? We discuss. 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: Leaving out Black jurors undermined the "perceived fairness" of the Karmelo Anthony trial: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/article/karmelo-anthony-trial-black-jurors-22296375.php ...Anthony's attorneys have moved quickly to appeal - basing their case on "peremptory strikes" of three Black jurors by th...

Who knew that so many of the most dire threats facing Texas lately - both the encroachment of big tech corporate data centers looking to suck up all our water AND power, and the New World screwworm fly, looking to wreak havoc on not only livestock farmers, but pet owners too - run straight through the office of the Texas Agriculture Commissioner? Clayton Tucker is the Democratic nominee for that p...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Karmelo Anthony trial - regardless of the verdict - displays the inequities that are hard-wired into our justice system for the Black community: https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/85-years-of-american-justice ...The right-wing agitators outside the building during the trial are only the latest example of escalating racial tension in Frisc...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Not only are they a burden on our water, power, farmland and peace and quiet - massive AI data centers have become the most expensive area of corporate welfare in Texas, and soon across the country: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/04/08/texas-data-centers-sales-tax-break-billion-dollars/ ...The Dallas, Austin, Houston and Permian Basin...

One might be forgiven for having assumed that Ken Paxton is the most offensive and least-qualified Republican nominee for statewide office in Texas this cycle, and there's certainly a strong arguement for that position. But, definitely in the running for that title is Bo French, the completely unqualified and even more unhinged nominee for Texas Railroad Commission. Luckily, the Democrats have...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: There are direct links between Elon Musk's DOGE program-slashing and the beginning new world screwworm outbreak in Texas: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/06/04/screwworm-in-texas-cattle-could-drive-up-beef-prices-after-doge-axed-prevention-efforts/ ...The Trump USDA is also holding back on an effective early-response te...

The runoff for the Democratic nomination for Harris County Judge was difficult to predict - and Progress Texas endorsee Dr. Letitia Plummer defied a lot of predictions in her win! Now a nominee this November to be the top elected official in a county with a bigger population than half of these United States, Dr. Plummer details her vision for the future of Texas' largest and most diverse urban cen...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Dallas' annual Pride parade moves from Fair Park to Downtown Dallas tomorrow - marking a needed elevation of visibility for the LGBTQ+ community at a moment of intense targeting by right-wing elements: https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts-culture/dallas-pride-parade-marches-on-for-lgbtq-rights-40681705/ As entertaining as it would have been fo...

In a two-part discussion this week, on the first In Progress of Pride 2026, we note how Texas GOP types have targeted our LGBTQ+ friends this election year - from ripping out crosswalks, to suing Big Gay Swim Days, to forcing Texas Children's Hospital into a ridiculous "detransitioning" clinic. And, we note that Scott Pelley - the Texas native and veteran CBS News journalist fired fo...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Having campaigned for more mainstream candidates during the primary, Texas Republican officials from Governor Greg Abbott down the line are now embracing the MAGA fringe nominees they were opposing just days ago: https://www.kut.org/energy-environment/2026-06-04/bo-french-texas-railroad-commission-oil-gas-election-republican ERCOT officia...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The unexpected and sudden resignation of Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson - the top election official in the state, just four months before the midterm - is intensifying doubts about the stability and integrity of those elections in Texas: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/us/texas-top-election-official-resigns.html ...Governor Greg...

Stories we're following this morning: That video of Governor Greg Abbott claiming that "the most important thing about barbecue is sauce" is not an AI deepfake - he actually said that on camera at a Washington, D.C. restaurant in 2015: https://progresstexas.org/blog/governor-abbott-declares-most-important-thing-about-texas-barbecue-sauce As their goofy attacks on James Talarico conti...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The family fortune of Republican State Senator and Attorney General nominee Mayes Middleton, who sank $16 million of his own money into his primary campaign against Chip Roy, is found to have originated via African slave labor: https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/blood-money-the-slave-fortune-behind ...However, one needn't delve into histo...

Texas is projected to become the leading data center hub and market by 2030. Whatever your concerns—whether it’s about growing AI demand, the power grid being overburdened, you don't want hundreds of diesel generators in your backyard, you don’t want to subsidize the richest companies in the world, or you don’t want communities waning water supplies to be wasted—it’s top of mind for most Texan...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Following the TEA's rejection of Austin ISD plans to avoid a state takeover, that dreaded result appears imminent: https://austincurrent.org/2026/05/28/austin-isd-1882-partnership-denied/ The James Talarico campaign raked in a cool $3 million in just the first day after Ken Paxton secured the Republican nomination for Senate: https://...

Many out in punditville are calling the ignominious defeat of old guard Senator John Cornyn by MAGA miscreant Ken Paxton "the death of the Republican Party" - but what does that mean exactly? We take a deep dive on the final 2026 midterm battle lines in Texas, and the possible path forward for Democratic nominee James Talarico - turns out we, too, are Talafreakoes. Thanks for listening!...