Progress Texas Podcasts

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Amidst a disastrous election cycle for progressives, it turns out that most of the candidates running for school board seats on book-banning platforms lost: https://www.lonestarlive.com/news/2024/11/most-texas-school-board-candidates-who-support-book-bans-lost-their-elections.html ...Not that MAGA types are giving up on their war on Texas' LG...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Senator John Cornyn, betrayed by Ted Cruz, after a half-million dollar campaign contribution, came in second in the race for Senate Majority Leader, with Scott coming in dead last: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/john-cornyn-senate-majority-texas-19912686.php Elon Musk backed Scott as well, who was cut on the first vote - per...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Harsh facts face families with undocumented members in Texas as preparations begin for Donald Trump's promised deportation of millions: https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2024/11/13/trumps-mass-deportation-plan-fact-vs-fiction-whats-next-for-texas/ Advocacy organizations like the ACLU and RAICES are up against a relentless and uncaring...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Tom Homan, an associate of Governor Abbott and a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, has been picked by Donald Trump to head up his promised mass roundup of immigrants once he takes office: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/trump-tom-homan-texas-border-deportation-19906670.php ...While urgency builds among Texas immigrant...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: As expected, Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa resigned: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/08/texas-democrat-party-resigns-gilberto-hinojosa/ Texas will be the epicenter of Donald Trump's promised massive deportation operation, with the complicity of conservatives in Texas: https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/texas/trum...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Gilberto Hinojosa, Chair of the Texas Democratic Party since 2012, is reported to be set to announce his resignation today: https://quorumreport.com/quorum_report_daily_buzz_2024/texas_democratic_party_chairman_hinojosa_to_announ_buzziid32336.html ...This follows uproar over comments Hinojosa made using the TDP's defense of trans Texans as an...

At this early stage, understanding how and why America chose to re-elect Donald Trump is beyond anyone's reach - it will take years to analyze both the prelude and the eventual aftermath. For now, at Progress Texas we are preparing for the next step: the 2025 Texas Legislature will feature an even more entrenched and power-drunk Republican majority. We gathered most of the crew for this one to sha...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Multiple Texas news outlets are pointing to the Texas Democratic Party, led by Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa since 2012, which must own a major part of this historic defeat. Reform Austin: https://www.reformaustin.org/elections/after-three-decades-of-defeat-will-texas-democrats-finally-demand-change/ ...The Texas Observer: https://www.texasobser...

We are just like you in our dismay at the results of yesterday's election. Today is a day to absorb the shock and process our emotions. But tuning out and staying home in future political battles is not an option. We must continue to fight fascism and the erasure of our rights, together. Campaigns come and go, but our progressive movement is forever. An authoritarian extremist ruling party deserve...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: It's Election Day! Any questions? Hit https://govotetexas.org/ . Our endorsed candidates: https://progresstexas.org/blog/progress-texas-november-general-election-endorsement-list While our early voting totals are technically down from 2020, that year was unusual due to extended early voting and massive mail-in voting due to the pandemic: http...

The draconian abortion ban that has stripped away the reproductive freedom of ALL Texans and endangered - and in at least two cases, ended - the lives of ALL pregnant people in Texas remains in place. No single election will fix this issue - only steady, sustained advocacy for our basic rights will get the job done. A group of talented musicians has put together a terrific way for people who are f...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Early voting totals turn out below 2020 overall, with encouraging stats for both sides - for Dems, heavy early turnout for women could be key: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/columns/2024/11/03/who-has-voted-early-in-texas-2024-elections-trump-harris/75989548007/ ...Almost half of the total of registered voters in Texas have showed up ea...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Today is the last day to vote early in the 2024 election - after today, only Election Day on Tuesday remains: GoVoteTexas.org In spite of huge urban turnout, the vast expanse of rural Texas continues outpacing the cities: https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/suburban-texas-counties-see-surge-in-voter-turnout-as-early-voting-nears-end The Texa...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Urban turnout remains strong, but statewide, Republican turnout appears to be comfortably outpacing Democratic voting: https://www.kxan.com/news/texas-politics/texas-republicans-lead-early-turnout-by-more-than-a-million-early-vote-data-suggests/ Elon Musk has sunk $2 million into a PAC dedicated to supporting Republican challengers to Democra...

In a case that has been winding through the courts for seven years, Laredo citizen journalist Priscilla Villareal has won a major battle in what's become a long war over the basic constitutional freedom of the press: her case, in which Laredo police charged her under a law that had never before been applied over her reporting of local, factual, non-biased news, has been sent by the U.S. Supreme Co...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: As early voting continues, Harris County closes in on one million early votes cast, while the top 5 most populous Texas counties remain under 40% turnout, and some Hill Country counties top 50%: https://www.sos.texas.gov/elections/historical/index.shtml NBC News still shows very few Texans under 40 showing up so far - less than 10% have been...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Massive turnout in Texas' urban counties continues, as the early percentage performance of rural counties appears to be stalling: https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/index.shtml An NBC early voting interface shows a striking lack of younger turnout: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/texas-results An Axios voter registration pe...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: In-person turnout has been massive in the first half of the 2024 early voting period, with higher percentages in rural counties than urban: https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/historical/index.shtml ...However, overall turnout is actually down at this stage compared to 2020, when mail-in ballots saw a giant spike due to the pandemic: https:...

This weekend, we all have an opportunity to catch one of the most important documentary films involving reproductive freedom to have yet been produced. The film Zurawski v Texas is a stunningly-intimate inside and real-time view of the highly personal dilemmas that faced Amanda Zurawski and the other eventual plaintiffs in her groundbreaking case for basic essential healthcare for pregnant people...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A growing number of urban Texas counties exceed 100,000 early votes cast, as a growing number of rural Texas counties top 27% early turnout: https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/index.shtml ...Progress Texas weighs in on the huge early turnout: https://progresstexas.org/blog/statement-texas-early-voting-excitement-shatters-records ...Want to...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Even missing key data, the Texas Secretary of State's tally of early turnout shows massive interest in the election across the state, but the biggest numbers in our urban counties: https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/historical/index.shtml Keep in mind that you can't use your smartphone while voting: https://www.click2houston.com/news/local...

At publishing time, we're on the third day of early voting in the monumentally consequential 2024 election - which marks the 30th anniversary of the last time any Democrat won a statewide office in Texas (it just so happens that Kamala Harris is set to visit Texas this week - the first campaign visit by a Presidential candidate this close to the election over the same 30 years). We're joined by Ga...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Texas officially set a new all-time turnout record for the first day of early voting on Monday: https://www.khou.com/article/news/politics/elections/texas-early-voting-record-set/285-8314514c-859a-48bb-9311-08d7a591bd6f ...It's due both to massive population growth, and rates of voter registration that outpace that growth: https://thehill.com...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Massive, record-breaking turnout on the first day of early voting in the 2024 election yesterday in North Texas: https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/texas-is-the-third-least-safe-state-to-live-in-america-heres-why/3676621/?os=vb.&ref=app ...In the Austin area: https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/long-wait-times-seen-as-early-voting-...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: We encourage all committed progressives to VOTE TODAY, and to spend the next two weeks pestering everyone you know to vote as well: https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/11-day-early-voting-stretch-begins-monday-in-texas/3676004/?os=io....dbr5yxkr&ref=app ...Texas officials have made it plain that they don't want young, diverse Texans to part...