Progress Texas Podcasts

Marijuana attorney Susan Hays joins us from her hops and hemp farm near Alpine! Susan brings together an extensive background in progressive advocacy, and an impeccable pedigree in land management and environmental stewardship - plus expertise on what a Texas-based marijuana industry could mean for our state. She's challenging longtime Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who is a walking anachronism - as is much of his party. The agriculture sector in the Lone Star State needs leadership that will help us succeed in the actual real world. 

We welcome special guest Jessica Montoya Coggins of Texas Signal for a discussion of the ongoing primary election: while urban turnout is looking decent, our state's history of low turnout in elections like these appears to be holding. New restrictions on voting access are causing an unprecedented number of registration rejections - but our hope is that an over-arching sense of voter suppression may actually help turnout, as voters defy efforts by the GOP to silence progressive voices in Texas. As Jessica says: if Republicans weren't terrified of Democratic voters, they wouldn't bother trying to stop us from voting. So get it done! And thanks for your support.

As we record, early voting in the 2022 primary election begins in just a few days, on Valentine's Day, Monday February 14. This may come as a surprise to even engaged progressives - who, along with the rest of us, may simply be a little burned out. But the struggle continues, and this week we're here to help get you caught up and ready to go. At the top of the ballot, Beto O'Rourke has dominated the Dem side and is already the presumptive nominee in the race for Governor. On the other side, Governor Greg Abbott, while well-funded by the under-regulated Texas energy industry, finds himself beset by motivated, hard-right challengers - all of whom would make an even worse leader for Texas than Abbott already is. Further down the ballot, we discuss the races for Lieutenant Governor (index to 15:20), Attorney General (22:50), State Comptroller (29:10), Land Commissioner (34:55), Agriculture Commissioner (43:15), and Railroad Commissioner (47:15). Don't forget, in a low turnout election, YOUR vote carries more weight than in most - get it done, and bring your friends too!

Given the way our long-indicted current Attorney General Ken Paxton has run the top law enforcement office in Texas, Texans may have forgotten what that office is supposed to be about: enforcing the law and ensuring justice, not just protecting the Republican regime. It also might seem that correcting this issue is beyond our reach, but it's not. We enjoyed meeting one Democrat who's stepping up to challenge what has become the status quo at AG: Rochelle Garza of the Rio Grande Valley.

As we record the podcast this week, Texas is bracing for another February Arctic blast. Governor Abbott - who shared in the financial windfall from last year's freeze in which millions of Texans lost power, and hundreds did not survive - has been promising for months that the power will stay on this time, but just yesterday our Governor walked back that promise. Democrat Beto O'Rourke is on a "keep the lights on tour" and drawing attention to the #AbbottTax where consumers are footing the bill to weatherize the grid. We've also got tips for getting through this next environmental trial for Texas - good luck to us all. Stay warm and safe - and don't forget how the elected leaders of our state have once again failed to earn our confidence.

Brett Isaacs joins the Happy Hour crew as we cover this week's big news that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has announced his impending retirement. Do we expect Republicans to play nice with President Biden's replacement wishes? And a big announcement, as we present a new initiative to protect abortion rights in Texas and across the nation: it's time for a Roevolution! Lots to cover, and important ways YOU can join the fight - join us to learn more, and thanks as always for your support.

Chris Mosser fills for Saatvik this week as we try to make sense (and it's not easy) of recent developments in voter access: at the federal level conservatives remain opposed to voting rights legislation, and at the local level vote-by-mail applications are getting rejected en masse due to Texas voter suppression laws. Also there's a shortage of voter registration forms in the state, and the Texas Secretary of State is making the ludicrous claim that "supply chain issues" are the reason why (if only we had online voter registration). No trick is too cheap for the GOP these days.  

ELECTION WATCH: The March 1st primary is only five weeks away! We take a look at some of the more interesting congressional primaries in districts 28, 35, and 37, as well as how marijuana is playing in the race for Agriculture Commissioner.

Our good pal Joe Deshotel of the terrific Texas Signal group joins us this week as we take a deep dive into Operation Lone Star - Governor Abbott's politically-motivated, poorly-executed and ill-advised mobilization of the Texas National Guard troops to the Mexican border, which has resulted in all-time-low morale and a pattern of suicides among our troops. We also take the temperature of the current efforts of Beto O'Rourke to replace our deeply unpopular Governor - how do we think he's doing so far on pandemic policy, marijuana policy, border policy, energy policy and other important points? As difficult as the fight can seem at times, we're all hopeful for the future of Texas, and we discuss that as well. Join us!

Happy New Year y'all! We're back for our first show of 2022 and the first anniversary of the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol - unbelievable that it's been a full year since that insane day.

We start with everyone's favorite punching bag, Ted Cruz, who led the sedition caucus in the U.S. Senate that day, attempting to overturn the election for Donald Trump - a guy who literally hates him. And now, as Ted Cruz tries to distance himself from that day's events, he's getting twitter-dunked by none other than Tucker Carlson.

Saatvik revisits the messages we sent to each other a year ago, what we were all feeling, and the surreal tone of the event and the weeks that followed. We wrap-up covering the messaging around that day and how we should talk about the events a year later. And a reminder about the importance of getting your friends to show up in the midterms and vote all the way down the ballot - it's those city councils and county clerks that decide how elections are conducted!

Diana Gomez serves up a hot list of the ten most popular and useful gifts for Texas progressives preparing for the worst as Greg Abbott's efforts to keep the heat and lights on this winter appear to be dismal indeed. And then, to bring back the holiday cheer, we reflect on our favorite moments of a long and hard but worthwhile year pushing forward the cause of progress in the Lone Star State. Our last edition of the year! Thanks for your support - all the best to you and yours, along with our wishes for a happy, safe and prosperous 2022.