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 polling shows higher favorability ratings for James Talarico than either Senator John Cornyn or Ken Paxton - but the November race against either a toss-up: https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/politics/poll-shows-texas-senate-race-toss-up-cornyn-and-paxton-vie-for-gop-nod/287-3e6e6e91-af0b-4f44-9be2-431654e07184
Paxton's office continues its bungling of high-profile cases with an extremely light sentence imposed upon an admitted child molester in Waco: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/05/19/ken-paxton-waco-plea-deal-child-sex-abuse-texas-attorney-general/
...While sex offenders are sliding, Paxton is ramping up his attacks on Muslim schools: https://www.keranews.org/news/2026-05-18/texas-ag-ken-paxton-sues-texam-university-alleging-illegal-degree-programs-and-deceptive-branding
...And piling on with the Trump DOJ with a highly dubious legal action against the Southern Poverty Law Center: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5884347-texas-investigates-splc-funding/
Meanwhile the hard-right media - clearly on Team Paxton - are making hay of Cornyn's prior support of Islamic Relief USA, a purely humanitaritan charity, simply on the basis of their Muslim affiliation: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/05/18/report-cornyn-funded-islamic-group-linked-planned-texas-muslim-community/
An Austin Chick-Fil-A franchisee - part of a chain known for closing on Sunday's to uphold a Christian religious veneer - is being sued for refusing to honor the religious rights of one of its own managers: https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/chick-fil-a-austin-texas-lawsuit-saturday-sabbath/269-e84e7adc-debb-4051-a1d7-a3fca50bb84d
Early voting in the primary runoff has begun! See a convenient form to see who will be on YOUR runoff ballot from the Texas Tribune: https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2026/texas-may-2026-primary-runoff-ballot/
We're excited to see you in Dallas for our 16th anniversary celebration on Tuesday June 16! Make your reservation now: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/anniversary2026
Progress Texas is expanding into both broadcast radio - including a new partnership with KPFT-FM in Houston - and into Spanish language media! Make a tax-deductible contribution to our radio initiative HERE, and to our Spanish expansion HERE. Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.