Progress Texas Podcasts

Ballotpedia counts a total of sixteen candidates who have declared runs for the historic 18th Congressional District in Houston, seeking to be the next to fill a seat once held by the legendary Barbara Jordan, more recently by the beloved and departed Sheila Jackson Lee and Sylvester Turner, and shamefully held vacant by Governor Greg Abbott since Turner's untimely death last March. We present...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Ten Democratic U.S House members have demanded that Governor Greg Abbott withdraw Texas National Guard troops that he has sent to Illinois and Oregon on the orders of Donald Trump: https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/politics/2025/10/09/texas-lawmakers-oppose-guard-use-in-out-of-state-policing/86572196007/ ...Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzke...

The staff, and special guest Julio Salinas, vent at the end of a long week that consisted of Texas-sized problems: from Gov. Abbott sending Texas National Guard troops to Illinois to Ken Paxton's ego, and threat as the top lawyer and candidate in 2026. Plus, what's concerning us and what's keeping us hopeful in these busy, chaotic times. Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas at htt...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay of execution for Robert Roberson, who would have become the first person in the US put to death in a shaken baby syndrome case: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/09/robert-roberson-execution-blocked-texas-court-of-criminal-appeals ...A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Texas Nation...

Texas Blue Action and Powered By People - already two of the Lone Star State's most prominent powerhouses in progressive voter activation and grassroots organizing - have announced a merger of Powered by People’s voter registration program with Texas Blue Action's relational organizing network. Executive Director and Progress Texas podcast regular Lana Hansen brings us the details on the formation...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Protesters are beginning to mass in Chicago in anticipation of the arrival of National Guard troops, hundreds of whom have come to their city from Texas: https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/08/texas-national-guard-broadview-illinois ...A federal judge in Illinois will consider a restraining order against the troop deployment toda...

We're joined today by Adrian Shelley and Cassidy Levin of the national watchdog group Public Citizen, who have uncovered a massive and years-long apparent pay-to-play scheme in which large-dollar donors to Governor Greg Abbott's campaign finance PAC appear to have been rewarded with very large, and in some cases, dubiously documented, state contracts - a situation that, while legal under Texas law...

Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued a press release regarding a new escalation his office plans to execute against "transgenderism and Antifa", long on right-wing belligerence and short on actual facts: https://www.keranews.org/news/2025-10-07/ag-ken-paxton-announces-undercover-operations-of-leftist-terror-cells Houston friends! Join Progress Texas in The Heights on Monday October 20 for our H-...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Around 200 National Guard troops from Texas have been deployed to Chicago over the protests of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, ostensibly to back up ICE agents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WRl6UUwYGI ...Trump's pretext is a countering of "rebellion against the federal government": https://www.keranews.org/texas-news/2025-10-06/texas-nat...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Governor Greg Abbott approved a request by Donald Trump to deploy Texas National Guard troops into both Chicago and Portland, Oregon, under the pretext of protecting ICE agents from Antifa: https://youtu.be/8QFKsX1s_lM?si=Xa-pRwaY6YGgoQ0S ...A Trump-appointed federal judge has temporarily blocked that move: https://thehill.com/homenews/admini...

Yet another chaotic political week (should we say, typically chaotic?) ends this Friday afternoon with our regular roundtable pod. How the Democrats can have the edge with the federal shutdown, what's at stake and what to understand about the court fight over the new state congressional map, a conversation with a new key player in the RGV and more - the staff breaks down another wild week in Texas...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The Trump administration has offered the University of Texas access to enhanced federal funding - if it agrees to a set of conditions that will accelerate the MAGA-fication of the 40 Acres: https://thedailytexan.com/2025/10/02/ut-system-to-review-proposal-from-trump-administration/ ...Academic experts see the adoption of this Trump "compact"...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: As the second day of the federal shutdown begins, progressives and Democrats must remind themselves and others that it represents a last stand for affordable healthcare, and a stand against the destructive agenda of Donald Trump: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTM6Wvbc5/ ...Should the Dems cave, as many as 1 million Texans may find themselves price...

The major turn towards Donald Trump by Texas Latino voters, especially those in South Texas, serves as a painful memory and a fearsome harbinger of what might be in store in the 2026 midterms. A major momentum shift would come in handy for South Texas Democrats - and one may have arrived in the form of Tejano music star Bobby Pulido, who has recently announced a run as a Democrat for the U.S. Cong...

In a federal court in El Paso, as of this morning, a trio of judges have begun considering whether the state of Texas can use the new congressional map - ordered by Donald Trump and eventually passed during a pair of highly contentious special legislative sessions - in the 2026 election. We're fortunate to have the expert legal view of attorneys Louis Bedford IV and Jason Smith, members of Progres...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Democrats in the U.S. House hold the line against the gutting of healthcare, as Republicans skip town - thus, a federal shutdown has begun: https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-democrats-republicans-trump-fight-c4949dace66c18d6099b5e23fd98b049 ...Reactions from Texas House Democrats, including El Paso's Veronica Escobar: https://x.c...

In a matter of weeks, North Texas voters have the chance to flip a Texas Senate seat from red to blue, and provide another vote for sanity in a chamber dominated by the nonsense of Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. Union president, veteran, and working class public education champion Taylor Rehmet is running against two far-right MAGA Republicans in the special election to fill a vacancy left by Rep...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Governor Abbott faces multiple issues that could make him vulnerable in 2026, including his inconsistencies related to on-campus free speech: https://www.texasobserver.org/greg-abbott-free-speech-charlie-kirk-universities/ ...His engineering of attacks on public school teachers who failed to sufficiently grieve the death of Charlie Kirk:...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: The new Texas congressional district map, ordered by Donald Trump to cut his expected U.S. House losses in next year's election, is set to be considered by federal judges in El Paso starting Wednesday: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/redistricting-fight-texas-congressional-maps-courtroom-determine-constitutional/ Could there be a THIRD spe...

Our weekly staff roundtable covers the strife within the Texas Democratic Party over a shakeup of office locations, as Trump and Co. once again try to capitalize on another apparently political shooting, this one on an ICE facility in Dallas. We continue looking for the light amidst dark times indeed - but stick with us, we will find our way out. Thanks for listening! Join the fight for progress i...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Federal and state authorities, who were quick to characterize Wednesday's shooting that killed or wounded three suspected undocumented immigrants as an attack on the ICE agents who had rounded them up, say they have found writings at the home of the suspected shooter confirming that he was targeting ICE: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/2...

An article posted by the Texas Tribune this morning alleges that a recent reorganization of office structure and locations at the Texas Democratic Party, including the relocation of its headquarters from Austin to Dallas, has led to staff shakeups that may undermine the party's efforts related to the 2026 midterm elections. Noting that all of those quoted in the story were done so in anonymity, we...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Donald Trump and MAGA have rushed to blame the latest incident of gun violence in Dallas, in which three ICE detainees were shot and one has died...on the left? https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/24/dallas-ICE-shooting-fatalities/?_bhlid=0df430cf0996f8c2bbdc882fc4c66808a4e09676 ...The shooter, who appears to have been much more interested i...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Nexstar Media Group joined the Sinclair Broadcast Group in blacking out the return of Jimmy Kimmel Live to ABC last night, denying the show to viewers in both the Lubbock and Midland areas - we encourage you to voice your concerns with the companies that advertise on those stations: https://www.nexstar.tv/stations/ ...Nexstar and Sinclair con...

Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas: Jimmy Kimmel returns to the airwaves tonight, but the Sinclair Broadcast Group says they still won't run his show: https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/22/entertainment/jimmy-kimmel-returning ...Find your town's Sinclair station here: https://sbgi.net/tv-stations/ Even within Republican circles, the attacks on free speech to avenge Charlie Kirk are be...