WiseUp TX

United States Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX 7) of Harris County won a historic election in 2018, as the first woman to win the district and the first Democrat to win the district since 1967.  She shares how through partnership great work can be accomplished in Congress.  She reminds our listeners that engaging our democracy can be rewarding and even fun.  Congresswoman Fletcher...

Areeba Amer hosts this episode! Areeba is a journalism and economics student at The University of Texas at Austin and a WiseUp TX intern since 2008! Sana Meghani is on the Get Out the Vote Committee for WiseUp TX and is hosting some podcast interviews this season!  She has been working hard to get how to vote materials done in Telugu, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Nepali, Tamil, Urdu, and Punjabi...

Jeff Whitfield is running for Texas State Rep. as the democratic candidate for District 92.  This district is in the "Mid Cities" between Dallas and Fort Worth, including Hurst, Euless and Bedford.  He is a veteran and an attorney whose work has taken him around the globe, but he was raised in the Mid Cities area, and settled down here with his own family.  Now, he wants to serve th...

Mike Siegel is a civil rights lawyer and former public school teacher running for Congress in Texas’ 10th Congressional District, which stretches from Houston to Austin.  Mike discusses why he is running again and how he plans to win this time, the importance of relational organizing, the issues his voters are talking about, and the importance of South Asian voters. Learn about him on his&nbs...

In this interview, Representative Gary Gates (R - District 28) talks about how he won his special election runoff in January 2020, and his plans for the district as the Representative if he wins again this November.  Gates discusses the impacts of Covid-19 and why he thinks his business experience makes him suited to bring Texans out of it.   To learn more about him, visit his website ....

Eliz Markowitz is running for Texas State Representative in District 28 (Suburbs of Houston).  In this interview, she talks about the special election earlier this year that gave her campaign an early start, and why she expects to win this time against the same candidate who won the special election. She says she noticed how her suburban district was changing, but leadership stayed the same....

Punam Kaji is a hosting and managing the WiseUp TX Podcast this election cycle, but who is she?  Learn about her biography and the journey that fuels her passion for WiseUp TX and South Asian voter engagement. Neal Sarkar is a host of the WiseUP TX Podcast.  Tune in to hear his story.  Learn about the research and policy work he is doing with WiseUp TX to better answer the question...

Sharon Hirsch is running for Texas State Representative for House District 66, which includes West Plano and far North Dallas. She discusses how after losing by just 391 votes in 2018, she decided to run again in 2020 on a platform of public education, expanding Medicaid access in Texas, gun safety, and ensuring fair maps when it comes to redistricting. Learn more about her on her website . WiseUp...

Sadaf Haq is running for City Council in Frisco (a suburb of Dallas).  She talks about the leadership positions she has held with various boards before deciding to run for office.  In this interview, she shares how she hopes to pave the way for other South Asians and she talks about how her diverse coalition of supporters inspires her throughout her campaign.   You can learn more ab...

Host Punam Kaji shares a preview of podcast interviews to come between now and Election Day!  The WiseUp TX Podcast will feature interviews from South Asian candidates running throughout Texas, candidates for Texas State House, and candidates for U.S. Congress!  

Lydia Bean is running for Texas State Representative (House District 93) as the Democratic Candidate. This district includes parts of Arlington, “Mid Cities", and North Fort Worth, stretching through much of Tarrant County. Lydia says her South Asian voters want what her other constituents are looking for too - well-funded public education, access to healthcare, and civility. She talks about how c...

Pooja Sethi is running for City Council in Austin, Texas (District 10). She shares how her South Asian identity influences her campaign - if she wins, she will be the first South Asian American to serve on Austin's City Council. Her work as an immigration lawyer taking on pro bono cases for domestic violence survivors motivated her to become a local leader. She has served the City on various Task...

Karthik Soora and Hena Rafiq are two of the co-founders of the They See Blue Texas Chapter. They See Blue is a National organization mobilizing South Asian Americans to help Democrats win races. Hear more about how their organization engages the South Asian community. With less than three months until the election, and amidst a pandemic, they are motivating South Asian Texans to vote for Democrats...

We all know how Super Tuesday turned out for the Presidential Candidates but how about the down ballot races in Texas? Lots of South Asians ran on both the Congressional and State levels! Punam and Azra talk about how South Asian candidates fared and discuss results of the races with a heavy South Asian population. Tune in to hear all this and how South Asians could make a difference in the upcomi...

U.S. Congressional District 3 covers parts of Collin County, including parts of Plano, Frisco, Allen, and McKinney. An area known for its South Asian population! In this episode we meet with democratic candidate Lulu Seikaly. Seikaly believes the South Asian vote is critical for this election cycle. As a daughter of immigrants and Arab American, she feels uniquely qualified to serve her diverse co...

The Iowa caucus is TODAY! You may be wondering what is a caucus, how do they work, are there differences between a Republican and Democratic caucus, etc... Don't worry--we are here to help you WiseUp on what is a caucus! Tune in to hear more!

You rarely hear about a Bengali Texan running for office but guess what? There is one! Meet Donna Imam, who is running for Congress in TX31! TX31 encompasses parts of Austin, Roundrock, Leander, and other northern suburbs. Tune in to hear more about her political platform and if elected, how she intends to improve healthcare, education, and real pay for all. **Please note that WiseUp TX does not e...

The Houston runoff elections have arrived! Raj Salhotra is in a runoff for an at large city council position. Tune in to WiseUp on his platform and how he intends to fix the educational, flooding, and transportation issues facing Houston. 

Judge KP George, representing the Fort Bend county area, was one of the first South Asian judges elected in Texas. Tune in to hear more about what a county judge does, what prompted him to run for office, the hurdles he overcame, and how he hopes to move a fractured South Asian community forward after the visit of Prime Minister Modi.  **Interview was done at TribFest on September 27, 2019.**

Check out our latest interview with, Asma Uddin, the founder of altMuslimah and the author of the book, "When Islam is not a Religion". The book takes a look at religious freedom in the United States through the prism of attacks on the constitutional rights of American Muslims. We discuss what motivated her to write on this topic and the reason why she chose the title for her book.

Tune in to hear about some exciting updates about WiseUp TX! We are also joined by one of our awesome interns, Areeba Amer, to discuss the Millennial v. Gen Z thoughts on the 2020 Democratic Presidential candidates we saw at the Texas Tribune Festival last weekend.

Tune in to hear about some exciting updates about WiseUp TX!  We are also joined by one of our awesome interns, Areeba Amer, to discuss the Millennial v. Gen Z thoughts on the 2020 Democratic Presidential candidates we saw at the Texas Tribune Festival last weekend.

#GreenNewDeal #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming What are all the #2020election candidates talking about? Our Daily Planet helps us unpack these terms & explains why many 2020 Presidential candidates have the #environment at the top of their platform.

Early voting has begun for local elections and will continue till April 28th. Election Day is May 4th, May the Vote Be With You! Check out this interview with Aisha Ojha, who is running for HEB ISD Trustee. The interview was conducted by incoming board member, Ava Damri.

An update on Texas politics, a reminder of upcoming local elections, and an interview with Afshi Charania who is running for Fort Bend ISD School Trustee! The interview was conducted by incoming board member, Karim Farishta.