
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


We are beyond proud of Rep. Nicole Collier of Fort Worth, who today refused to agree to a Texas DPS tail in order to be allowed to leave the Texas House floor. We talked to her live from there this evening, and will continue to follow.
Learn more about Rep. Nicole Collier at https://www.texasrepcollier.com/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
The Texas House Democrats who have stopped the Donald Trump-ordered redistricting of Texas for the last two weeks are expected to restore quorum today: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/us/politics/redistricting-texas-maps.html
...In Houston, Colin Allred calls the quorum break a success in buying time and building understanding of the situation across the country: https://www.khou.com/video/news/local/texas/quorum-may-be-reached-in-texas-house-during-special-session-monday/285-0a9ea4b3-d53b-4992-b165-1c44a5ce4332
...The quorum break has also inspired Democrats to up their efforts against Trump, and fired up the voting base: https://apnews.com/article/trump-democrats-redistricting-texas-california-newsom-9422a8300f5bcc2aa587bcb3811a1479
...An example of that fired up base, over 5,000 braved a hot August afternoon to rally against the Trump map on Saturday at the Texas State Capitol: https://www.kut.org/politics/2025-08-16/texas-austin-redistricting-rally-protest-capitol-congressional-maps
...Don't count on Republicans to dial back their efforts - or their dangerous and violent rhetoric, on which Houston Rep. Ann Johnson weighs in: https://x.com/voteannjohnson/status/1956737162277269904?s=46
Republicans on the Tarrant County Commissioners Court - again - are scheming to cut voting locations, especially those at area colleges: https://www.keranews.org/government/2024-09-09/tarrant-county-early-voting-at-colleges
...Commissioner Alisa Simmons sounds the alarm: https://x.com/commalsimmons/status/1957274231688851652?s=46
Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett says that should polling show her competitive, she'll consider running for the U.S. Senate: https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/politics/inside-politics/texas-politics/if-this-happens-congresswoman-jasmine-crockett-consider-run-senate/287-26b58ed8-f392-48e3-ac8c-61c7440346d0
Dallas/Fort Worth friends: Join Progress Texas Institute and the Legal Defense Fund in Dallas for a live podcast taping, featuring Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons, at the DEC Network Center—honoring the years since the signing of the Voting Rights Act and a review of where voting rights stand today, amid redistricting threats. Admission is free! https://act.progresstexas.org/a/vra_event_2025
Austin friends: tickets are on sale now for our live podcast taping with legendary Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver on September 15 at Hopsquad Brewing in Austin! Tickets are limited and are available here: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025
Progress Texas' financial reserves have dropped to about 3 months worth of funding. Help us avoid going on a permanent vacation this summer by becoming a sustaining member: https://progresstexas.org/join-pt-summer-vacation-membership-drive
Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
As the first special session ends, and a second begins - all but promising that the new congressional map designed to give Donald Trump a chance to elude the voters and maintain control of the U.S. House beyond next year will be enacted - we gather with special guest Wil Jeudy of Secular Houston to unpack the end of the Democratic quorum break, what they accomplished over the last two weeks, and what happens next.
Learn more about Secular Houston at https://secularhouston.org/.
Progress Texas' financial reserves have dropped to about 3 months worth of funding. Help us avoid going on a permanent vacation this summer by becoming a sustaining member: https://progresstexas.org/join-pt-summer-vacation-membership-drive
Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
As day 12 of the Texas House quorum break arrives, those Dems have announced plans to return for the promised second special session, in part “to build a strong public legislative record for the upcoming legal battle” https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/14/texas-house-democrats-plan-return-quorum-break-redistricting/
...They plan to wait until California's retaliatory redistricting map is unveiled, likely later today: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/us/texas-democrats-return.html
...California Gavin Newsom will ask that state's voters to approve bypassing their independent redistricting commission on November 4: https://apnews.com/article/texas-california-redistricting-battle-f0ac783b6a5fd6ecaab0ca419125b72a
...A Tarrant County judge has put off for about two weeks a ruling on a temporary restraining order against fundraising for the quorum breakers by Beto O'Rourke's Powered By People, Ken Paxton's push to charge O'Rourke with contempt of court, and O'Rourke's petition to move the case to El Paso: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article311706474.html
Ken Paxton finds his early polling lead against Senator John Cornyn to have more or less evaporated, as 80% of polled voters pay close attention to the ongoing redistricting drama: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/15/paxton-cornyn-texas-senate-poll-august-emerson/
After gaining the votes of millions of Texans on promises to improve their economic situation, Donald Trump's policies are directly putting the brakes on the Texas economy: https://www.wfaa.com/article/money/economy/texas-economy-job-growth-slowing-amid-trade-war-immigration-crackdown-dallas-fed-report-says/287-13e06c6e-ea00-4914-a8ef-a352fb725141
Considering the lack of condemnation from GOP leadership or their voter base, one can interpret the acceptance of recent racist comments from State Senator Mayes Middleton and Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French as evidence that by nature, the Texas Republican Party is a racist organization: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2025/08/15/what-the-racist-attacks-on-democrats-say-about-the-texas-gop/
As another weekend of protests and rallies arrives, Progress Texas reminds you to show up, be loud, and be proud - but also be smart, and don't follow anyone into anything unsafe, illegal or destructive: https://www.fightthetrumptakeover.com/
Dallas/Fort Worth friends: Join Progress Texas Institute and the Legal Defense Fund in Dallas for a live podcast taping, featuring Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons, at the DEC Network Center—honoring the years since the signing of the Voting Rights Act and a review of where voting rights stand today, amid redistricting threats. Admission is free! https://act.progresstexas.org/a/vra_event_2025
Austin friends: tickets are on sale now for our live podcast taping with legendary Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver on September 15 at Hopsquad Brewing in Austin! Tickets are limited and are available here: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025
Progress Texas' financial reserves have dropped to about 3 months worth of funding. Help us avoid going on a permanent vacation this summer by becoming a sustaining member: https://progresstexas.org/join-pt-summer-vacation-membership-drive
Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
An Illinois judge, approached by Ken Paxton under the assumption that he may bend the rules as Texas judges have, has declined Paxton's request that authorities in that state enforce arrest warrants against the Democratic quorum breakers sheltering there: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/13/texas-democrats-illinois-arrest-warrants-reject-extradite/
...The quorum breakers took part in a call hosted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee yesterday, in which Obama Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries participated: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/former-attorney-general-eric-holder-house-democrats-redistricting/
...It's important to keep in mind that Trump's redistricting push is an attempt to nullify Black and Brown voters - a fact that the mainstream media has failed to properly portray: https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/redistricting-racism-texas-abbott-florida-desantis-trump-rcna224891
Should quorum be re-established at the Capitol, not only will the maps move forward, but also plans for local police departments to have broader control over officer misconduct records and the ability to shield them from public and press view: https://www.texasobserver.org/secrecy-g-file-police-records-texas-legislature/
Trump and DOGE cuts, as they relate to the kids headed back to school, will unsurprisingly mostly impact programs designed to support and protect kids of color: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/14/texas-after-school-programs-trump-funding-cuts/
Has Texas already devolved into a state of "Orban-style autocracy"? https://www.salon.com/2025/08/14/trump-abbott-and-the-gop-bring-orban-style-autocracy-to-texas/
Dallas/Fort Worth friends: Join Progress Texas Institute and the Legal Defense Fund in Dallas for a live podcast taping, featuring Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons, at the DEC Network Center—honoring the years since the signing of the Voting Rights Act and a review of where voting rights stand today, amid redistricting threats. Admission is free! https://act.progresstexas.org/a/vra_event_2025
Austin friends: tickets are on sale now for our live podcast taping with legendary Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver on September 15 at Hopsquad Brewing in Austin! Tickets are limited and are available here: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025
...The Brad Stuver interview will be co-hosted by Landon Cotham of the Austin FC podcast Moontower Soccer: https://www.moontowersoccer.com/
Progress Texas' financial reserves have dropped to about 3 months worth of funding. Help us avoid going on a permanent vacation this summer by becoming a sustaining member: https://progresstexas.org/join-pt-summer-vacation-membership-drive
Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
As the end of the first special session approaches this week, with another threatened immediately to follow, we continue our talks with House Democrats who have left the state to stop the power grab of Donald Trump via mid-decade redistricting - a tactic that grows less and less popular as more and more Americans realize what's happening. The Texas Dems are largely responsible for the spread of that awareness - so part of their mission is already successful. We're glad to welcome back Rep. Erin Zwiener, whose district in Hays County overlays part of House District 35, which will be largely erased by the new map.
Learn more about State Rep. Erin Zwiener at https://www.erinforyall.com/.
Progress Texas' financial reserves have dropped to about 3 months worth of funding. Help us avoid going on a permanent vacation this summer by becoming a sustaining member: https://progresstexas.org/join-pt-summer-vacation-membership-drive
Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
Somewhat shaky reports have emerged that the Texas House Democrats away from the Capitol breaking quorum are making plans to return for a promised second special session, hoping for flood relief to be made the top priority: https://abc13.com/post/texas-house-democrats-return-home-second-special-session-abc13-sources-confirm/17515302/
...The Texas Senate tried to push flood relief to the top yesterday too, but failed - a walkout by nine of the Democrats wasn't enough to stop the chamber from passing Donald Trump's new map, 19-2: https://www.kut.org/politics/2025-08-12/texas-senate-democrats-walk-out-redistricting-special-session
...Attorney General Ken Paxton is calling for Beto O'Rourke to be arrested, alleging contempt of court as O'Rourke, after a restraining issue on fundraising was issued against Powered By People, told a Fort Worth rally crowd "fuck the rules": https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-he-s-lying-texas-ag-wants-to-arrest-beto-o-rourke-as-tensions-explode-244842565716
The NPR Politics Podcast focused yesterday on the massive failure of FEMA call centers to properly answer calls for help from the Texas Hill Country in the wake of the July 4 flood: https://www.npr.org/2025/08/12/nx-s1-5500118/exclusive-fema-didnt-sufficiently-staff-disaster-hotline-after-texas-floods
...Text messages between officials with the Upper Guadalupe River Authority show a lack of understanding about what that agency was dealing with on July 4: https://abcnews.go.com/US/assume-worst-internal-texts-emails-show-confusion-concern/story?id=124588857
...Even now, dozens of structures at 13 Hill Country youth camps stand in the Guadalupe River 100-year flood plain: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/13/texas-hill-country-summer-camps-kerrville-floodplain/
...To evade flood insurance and bolster property values, using a little-used process called a "letter of map amendment", several Camp Mystic buildings and nearby luxury homes have been drawn out of FEMA's special flood hazard areas: https://www.expressnews.com/projects/2025/kerr-county-floods-camp-mystic-fema-maps/
...The New York Times has released a devastating photo essay of the flood damage: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/insider/documenting-the-horrors-of-the-texas-floods.html
With kids headed back to school, RFK Jr. in charge in D.C. and generous exemption policies available to Texas families, now's the time for parents who believe in science to double-check that their kids' vaccinations are current: https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/texas-parents-urged-to-update-childrens-vaccines-as-new-school-year-begins
Tickets are on sale now for our live podcast taping with legendary Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver on September 15 at Hopsquad Brewing in Austin! Tickets are limited and are available here: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025
...The Brad Stuver interview will be co-hosted by Landon Cotham of the Austin FC podcast Moontower Soccer: https://www.moontowersoccer.com/
Progress Texas' financial reserves have dropped to about 3 months worth of funding. Help us avoid going on a permanent vacation this summer by becoming a sustaining member: https://progresstexas.org/join-pt-summer-vacation-membership-drive
Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Rep. Christina Morales of Houston holds the very special distinction of having secured the most progressive voting record in the entire Texas House during the 89th Legislature (https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/17/texas-house-2025-conservative-liberal-ranking/), and we're proud to (finally!) have her on for our ongoing series of updates from Democratic lawmakers who have left the state to halt Donald Trump's carving up of our congressional map for his own personal benefit.
Learn more about Rep. Christina Morales at https://www.moralesfordistrict145.com/.
Progress Texas' financial reserves have dropped to about 3 months worth of funding. Help us avoid going on a permanent vacation this summer by becoming a sustaining member: https://progresstexas.org/join-pt-summer-vacation-membership-drive
Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
El Paso State Rep. Claudia Ordaz, theorized to be on her way back to the Capitol, says she is in full support of the quorum break as she undergoes medical treatment: https://www.ktsm.com/local/texas-dps-shows-up-for-el-paso-lawmaker-rep-ordaz/
...Texas Republicans are pulling out all the stops against the quorum breakers - with the Trump agenda at stake, their zeal for retribution is in overdrive: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/12/texas-republicans-redistricting-political-power-courts-quorum-break/
...Texas DPS troopers, rather than doing their primary job of keeping Texans safe, have been reassigned to the task of staking out the homes of the Democratic quorum breakers - who will later be charged with related expenses: https://www.statesman.com/news/politics/article/dustin-burrows-quorum-break-dps-20812253.php
...Governor Abbott has thrown cold water on the idea that the Dems can stop redistricting for the 2026 election by delaying past the December 8 filing deadline - he says he'll re-draw them mid-election: https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/08/11/texas-gov-will-push-for-controversial-redistricting-map-beyond-election-deadline-as-democrats-remain-out-of-state/
...Governor Abbott also believes that should blue states including California respond to Texas' gerrymandering with their own, that he can and will eliminate as many as 10 Democratic congressional districts: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5447180-texas-gop-redistricting-threat/
The Texas Public Utility Commission is suing the Texas Attorney General's office to keep information about cryptocurrency mining power demand in Texas, claiming fears that releasing it will provoke terrorism (!): https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/11/texas-public-utility-commission-cryptocurrency-mining-power-lawsuit/
Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, an advocate for the therapeutic use of the hallucinogen ibogaine, describes in detail a 12-hour trip he took on the drug in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/us/politics/rick-perry-drug-psychedelics-ibogaine.html
Back to school parents, be sure to peep into your kid's classroom on the first day to see the Ten Commandments displayed by state law for the first time: https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/education/ten-commandments-on-display-in-texas-classrooms/287-c04332c1-4ee4-44df-9053-e472790199f8
Tickets are on sale now for our live podcast taping with legendary Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver on September 15 at Hopsquad Brewing in Austin! Tickets are limited and are available here: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025
...The Brad Stuver interview will be co-hosted by Landon Cotham of the Austin FC podcast Moontower Soccer: https://www.moontowersoccer.com/
Progress Texas' financial reserves have dropped to about 3 months worth of funding. Help us avoid going on a permanent vacation this summer by becoming a sustaining member: https://progresstexas.org/join-pt-summer-vacation-membership-drive
Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
All of the Texas House Democrats out of the state to stop the Trump power grab are making personal sacrifices - including State Rep. Ron Reynolds, who is missing his twins' first day of high school on Tuesday. Those kids, through the rest of their lives, will have a great story to tell about why Dad was away - he's doing all he can to preserve American democracy. No big deal!
Learn more about State Rep. Ron Reynolds at https://ronreynoldstexas.com/.
Progress Texas' financial reserves have dropped to about 3 months worth of funding. Help us avoid going on a permanent vacation this summer by becoming a sustaining member: https://progresstexas.org/join-pt-summer-vacation-membership-drive
Thanks for listening! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
From the publisher's feed

37,988 Listeners

9,191 Listeners

8,445 Listeners

8,419 Listeners

3,462 Listeners

251 Listeners

111,863 Listeners

32,255 Listeners

4,595 Listeners

5,746 Listeners

5,466 Listeners

8,317 Listeners

15,891 Listeners

9,188 Listeners

4,455 Listeners