Progress Texas Podcasts

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!...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: James Talarico's general election campaign for Senate kicked off last night with the first of a series of events: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/28/us/politics/ken-paxton-james-talarico-texas-senate-race.html ...The Cook Political Report, upon the nomination of Ken Paxton, has shifted the Texas Senate race from "Likely Republica...

We enjoyed immensely a gathering last week at the super fun Creekwood Grill in Cypress for a live podcast taping with Kendra Camarena, Lesley Guilmart, and Dr. Cleveland Lane Jr, the three freshly-elected members of the Cy-Fair School Board who have re-established a balance of responsibility and pro-public education priorities on that board, to the great benefit of the students and families served...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The results are largely in from yesterday's 2026 midterm primary runoff: https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2026/texas-primary-runoff-results-2026/ ...The marquee result: Ken Paxton defeats Senator John Cornyn, clarifying the race for Democratic nominee James Talarico and largely spelling the end of the old Republican guard: https...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Election Day is here for the 2026 midterm primary runoff - that record turnout in March has dwindled significantly for Democrats, but remains strong for voters in the Republican runoff, powered by the Cornyn/Paxton bloodbath: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/what-to-expect-in-the-texas-us-senate-republican-primary-runoff ...A final Q...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: On this last day of early voting in the runoff, a tour through the reasons Texas is notorious for bad voter turnout - and several good ideas to fix that are presented in the new Party Politics show from Houston Public Media: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/shows/party-politics/2026/03/20/546612/why-texans-dont-vote-and-what-co...

As early voting winds down and Election Day looms on Tuesday in the 2026 Democratic Party runoff in Texas, we stole a few brief moments with Congressman Christian Menefee, endorsee of our board here at Progress Texas in his run to keep the job he won in a special election just a few short months ago to fill an almost-year-long vacancy cruelly engineered by Governor Greg Abbott after the untimely p...

Both the Trump endorsement of Ken Paxton and the CD 35 Democratic runoff shenanigans this week provide examples of what could eventually happen when toxic candidates end up on the ballot - and how that toxicity can be weaponized across the aisle. Fort Worth attorney and Progress Texas board member Jason Smith is back for a deep dive on gross voting options as the 2026 primary runoff winds down - d...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: A Guatemalan woman, denied a critical surgery by her ICE captors, has become the latest symbol of the cruelty of the Trump immigration enforcement machine: https://www.sacurrent.com/news/texas-news/doctors-say-woman-in-texas-ice-detention-center-urgently-requires-surgery-shes-being-denied/ ...An ICE arrest in the parking lot of a San Anto...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Donald Trump's endorsement of Ken Paxton over John Cornyn in the Republican runoff for Senate has sent shockwaves through the GOP elite: https://apnews.com/article/trump-texas-senate-endorsement-paxton-cornyn-adb4c7213fc2d0db0b29d0ab65d49384 ...Paxton's manipulation of Trump appears to have paid off handsomely: https://www.cnn.com...

Yes, it's rare for Progress Texas' board to issue an endorsement in a Democratic runoff after early voting has already begun - but the situation in CD 35, situated on the eastern range of the San Antonio area, is a bona fide emergency. Not only is there a strong candidate in lifelong law enforcement professional Johnny Garcia, but his opponent Maureen Galindo - yes, a Democrat - has proven...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Our board at Progress Texas has issued a late endorsement for Johnny Garcia, running in the primary runoff in South Texas' CD 35 against Maureen Galindo, whose campaign has been marred by a broad variety of rhetorical missteps: https://www.expressnews.com/opinion/commentary/article/antisemitism-congressional-election-22260523.php New...