Progress Texas Podcasts

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: As the line against the Trump agenda falls in the U.S. House, do Democrats have an age problem? https://newrepublic.com/post/195617/republicans-pass-tax-bill-democrat-deaths ...Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder issues a statement on the Trump tax bill: https://www.texasdemocrats.org/media/breaking-house-republicans-pass-trumps-...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: After a contentious all-night fight, Republicans in the U.S. House have passed Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill" - a truly historic fleecing of working-class Americans for the benefit of the rich: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-republicans-set-pre-dawn-votes-get-trump-tax-bill-over-finish-line-2025-05-22/ ...It was made much easi...

Former Congressman Beto O'Rourke has lately been staging live town hall events in cities and towns across Texas, in both blue and red counties, raising funds and volunteers for his voter activation PAC Powered By People, and - some might theorize - perhaps testing the waters for a run against John Cornyn in 2026. We caught the full audio of Beto's event in Garland on Monday night, which we present...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Latest on the Trump bill Rep. Julie Johnson commented on this morning: https://www.reuters.com/business/us-stock-futures-dip-bond-yields-climb-trumps-tax-bill-standoff-unfolds-2025-05-21/ El Paso is seeing more adult measles infections than those affecting children - due possibly to high vaccination rates in kids, and older Texans who may...

We're super proud to be the first to bring you a talk with freshly-announced Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor, Austin State Rep. Vikki Goodwin! Dan Patrick, in almost a decade in that very powerful office, has been central to all manner of conservative malfeasance in Texas - thumbing the scales for the wealthy at the expense of the working class, undermining faith in science and ou...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Donald Trump's fixation on celebrity rejection has drawn his attention to Kamala Harris' October 2024 rally in Houston: https://www.chron.com/culture/article/trump-harris-houston-rally-beyonce-20334757.php John Cornyn's polling numbers are vastly outpaced by challenger Ken Paxton's - leading to GOP fears of a toxic candidate in the general el...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: President Joe Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis should be seen as a reminder of the importance of continued medical research investment: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/trending/article/texas-lawmakers-joe-biden-20333919.php HB 49, in the rush to completion at the end of the 89th Legislature, would protect oil comp...

Our weekly airing of the grievances is perhaps a little spicy this time because frankly, we're sweating our butts off. Lucky for Texas, renewable energy has carried the load keeping the AC on, but Republicans still hate it. A curious child marriage bill gets a curious House vote, which we'll explain. Ted Cruz wants to give babies a grand (thanks Ted!). And, the nerds of PT are fired up over Andor...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The deadline for the Texas House to act on bills filed by its own members arrived at midnight last night - bills allowing landlords to more easily evict tenants, and improving conditions for kids in our juvenile justice system, are both DOA for this session: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/15/texas-house-deadline-winners-losers/ ...Rep....

Progress Texas Executive Director Kathleen Thompson took part in a terrific celebration and fundraising event for the Texas Democratic Party hosted by the Funky East Dallas Democrats club - better known as The FEDDs - as they celebrated the rise of one of their founding members, Kendall Scudder, to the position of party chair! Kathleen asked important questions regarding recent progressive wins, h...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The long-languishing HB 2, the promised "historic" public school finance proposal purported to offset concerns about the impact to public schools by private school vouchers, will be heard at the Capitol today after massive cuts by Senate Republicans - the increase to the basic allotment goes from about $500 to a paltry $55: https://www.expres...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The ERCOT dashboard shows that solar power was the primary source for Texas energy throughout the first day of this historic heat wave yesterday: https://www.ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards ...Ironic that at the very same time, Republicans in Austin are doing all they can to undermine future renewable energy development: https://www.nytimes....

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: All-time temperature records look likely to fall for both San Antonio and Austin as a dangerous and alarmingly early heat wave arrives: https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/weather/article/dangerous-extreme-heat-texas-20323488.php ...Even those who are bullish about ERCOT's prospects with this heat wave are concerned about the many fossil fuel-p...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: This week's mid-May heat wave is expected to shatter daily high temperature records - parts of Texas will be hotter than parts of the Sahara Desert between Tuesday and Thursday: https://www.expressnews.com/san-antonio-weather/forecast/article/heat-wave-south-texas-historic-temperatures-20320730.php ...ERCOT expects to keep up with pow...

We are proud to have been invited to host a terrific panel of Texas-based enviromental activists and advocates during the recent EarthX conference in Dallas! Advocacy Manager Reagan Stone welcomed representatives of Environment Texas, the Sunrise Movement, Public Citizen and the Environmental Defense Fund for a wide-ranging and enlightening discussion. Enjoy! Thanks for listening! Learn more about...

We gather for our weekly roundtable and group gripe - this week, a postgame of our terrific Party For Progress in San Antonio, the hugely important runoff election for Mayor in that city (June 7 Alamo City folks!), great engagement on social media as we celebrate Democratic and progressive municipal election wins in the May elections, and as we celebrate Mother's Day this weekend, how Texas makes...

Thumbnail credit to live-action artist Amitai Plasse: https://www.instagram.com/amirocks73/ Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: SB 37, which would allow politically-appointed regents to direct the content that Texas college professors teach, is progressing through the Lege: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/columnists/tomlinson/article/texas-university-censorship-patric...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: "Vote harvesting" - voter assistance practices long in place in many Black and Latino communities, but outlawed by the Texas GOP in 2021 - is the crime several Frio County officials have been charged with committing, resulting in their arrests: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/07/texas-ken-paxton-vote-harvesting/...

A terrific time, and far overdue, at our Party For Progress on Tuesday night in San Antonio! We recorded conversations with Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who is in the final weeks of his eight-year, four-term tenure as mayor of San Antonio, as well as the Democrat running to replace him, Gina Ortiz Jones, who is now locked in battle against a Republican challenger who is a longtime ally of Governor Greg Ab...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Could Texas Republicans be feeling the heat from recent losses in the May municipal elections? A bill amounting to a GOP intellectual takeover of state universities may be scaled back: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/06/texas-house-higher-education-diversity-equity-teaching-bill/ ...On the same track, Ken Paxton has dropped his lawsu...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Progressives continue savoring wins in the May municipal elections across the state, while one major piece of business remains unfinished - the San Antonio mayoral race: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/05/texas-school-board-races/ ...What an interesting moment to visit San Antonio! Hope to see y'all at our Party For Progress tonight: ⁠⁠⁠...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Democrats and progressive candidates won widespread victories across Texas, seen by some as a backlash against MAGA extremism: https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/magas-very-bad-night-in-texas Tarrant County saw a complete shutout of county GOP and Patriot Mobile-backed candidates: https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/tarrant-county/gop-endorse...

Reviving a program that was discontinued under the Obama Administration due to widespread abuse including racial profiling, the Trump administration has begun entering into agreements with local law enforcement agencies that essentially convert their officers into ICE agents, tasked with seeking out and arresting people whom they suspect are undocumented. More and more Texas police and sheriff's d...

Our weekly venting session features Digital Director Sam Gonzalez, Advocacy Manager Reagan Stone, Advocacy and Development Coordinator Tatum Owens, and Digital Associate Haley Smith - we figure you're probably pissed about the same stuff we are, so we now include you in our weekly airing of the grievances...enjoy and happy weekend! Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Governor Abbott is set to sign private school vouchers into law this weekend - how did we get here? https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/02/texas-school-vouchers-greg-abbott/ ...Meanwhile, HB 2 - the bill Republicans have called an "historic" increase in public school funding - appears to be languishing in committee: https://x.com/scottbraddo...