
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
The national fight over partisan redistricting is settling into a direct battle between Texas and California: https://apnews.com/article/redistricting-texas-california-house-map-trump-0f5f79185bbeeba8c2ff9999f48e5867
...Governor Abbott shows no sign of backing down, saying that the State House Democrats who have left the state to break quorum are "freaking out": https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5436035-texas-governor-greg-abbott-democrats-gop-plans/
...Yesterday's vote to issue warrants for the quorum breakers is largely meaningless, as they are only enforceable within state lines and don't carry civil or criminal charges: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/04/texas-democrats-house-warrants-arrest-quorum-break/
...Abbott's threat to remove the Dems from office will be legally difficult, and if done successfully would almost certainly result in new Democrats in those seats: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/03/texas-house-democrats-abbott-threatens-removal-quorum-break/
...The Houston Chronicle editorial board worries that Abbott and Donald Trump will dream up a pretext to send federal officers after the quorum breakers: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/texas-redistricting-democrats-quorum-greg-abbott-20800785.php
Austin friends and soccer fans! Mark your calendar for Monday September 15, when we will gather for a live podcast taping with legendary Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver! Sponsorship opportunities are available now, and individual tickets will go on sale soon: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025
...The Brad Stuver interview will be co-hosted by Landon Cotham of the terrific 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.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
After weeks of warnings, most of the Democratic delegation to the Texas House of Representatives has left the state to break quorum ahead of a vote on a Trump-ordered redistricting map: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/03/texas-democrats-quorum-break-redistricting-map/
...Many of them are in Chicago, where they were met at the airport last night by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzger: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/03/texas-house-democrats-flee-to-chicago-over-congressional-redistricting/
...Governor Abbott is leaning on obscure legal angles to threaten to remove the quorum breakers from office, and perhaps to charge them with felonies related to fundraising: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/03/texas-house-democrats-abbott-threatens-removal-quorum-break/
...All of this could be the trigger of a nationwide redistricting "arms race" that could further worsen already terrible political division: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2025/08/04/after-texas-does-it-mid-decade-redistricting-could-go-national/
...Want to support the Texas Democratic Party's efforts to "fight back against Republican efforts to steal congressional districts"? Click here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/tdp_redistricting
Austin friends and soccer fans! Mark your calendar for Monday September 15, when we will gather for a live podcast taping with legendary Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver! Sponsorship opportunities are available now, and individual tickets will go on sale soon: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025
...The Brad Stuver interview will be co-hosted by Landon Cotham of the terrific 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.
Our weekly gathering happens while the final hearing on the Donald Trump-ordered redistricting of Texas for the sole purpose of protecting him from losing the GOP majority in the U.S. House next year - widely expected to happen without this kind of drastic measure - is even now ongoing at the Capitol. We sent Digital Associate Haley Smith into the fray to see what's what - she reports live from the scene, complete with interviews including Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder, whose hat choices in headwear lately are damn straight on point.
As we approach the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act passed under President and Texas Democrat Lyndon Baines Johnson, Progress Texas invites YOU to help us shine a spotlight on the truth—from our coalition work introducing the Barbara Jordan Texas Voting Rights Act in the 89th Legislative Session, to a live podcast taping with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in Dallas on where voting rights stand today, to rapid response coverage of stop the steal rallies (attended by thousands and digitally brought to hundreds of thousands), to shaping the narrative in legacy media. Your donation is key to keeping us in this fight, and every penny helps - thank you. Join us here: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/60th_vra
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:
The last hearing by the State Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting on the Donald Trump-ordered redistricting of Texas' congressional district is expected to draw a massive crowd in opposition today: https://www.khou.com/article/news/politics/register-texas-redistricting-hearing-districts-austin/285-3b6de0f7-f03e-4ffb-9317-3c52432afe37
...National Democrats are pledging to back their Texas counterparts, including a visit this week from U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York: https://www.fox7austin.com/news/hakeem-jefferies-joins-texas-democrats-help-fight-redistricting-effort
...California Governor Gavin Newsom is looking at the first Tuesday in November for a possible special election to allow the retaliatory redistricting of that state, which could result in a 48-4 Democratic advantage: https://www.kcra.com/article/california-governor-gavin-newsom-possible-nov-4-special-election/65568148
...The Texas Trump power grab is seen as a key, nationwide test case: will the Democratic Party show the stomach to actually stand up to Donald Trump? Texas is very much in the spotlight: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/opinion/texas-redistricting-democrats.html
The near-unbelievable fact that three of the primary public safety officials in Kerr County literally slept through the July 4 flood was central to yesterday's hearing on the matter in Kerrville yesterday: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/31/texas-kerr-county-officials-asleep-july-4-floods-hill-country/?_bhlid=52832be772a841f91bf27e4ab4a29a26cbf1747c
...Even before nightfall, though, local officials in Kerr County appear to have neglected to follow the basics of their own emergency plan: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/31/kerr-county-emergency-plan/
...Social media influencers who descended upon the flood zone highlight the difference between them and actual journalists: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/video/influencers-in-flood-zone-spark-concern-texas-monthly/
Austin friends and soccer fans! Mark your calendar for Monday September 15, when we will gather for a live podcast taping with legendary Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver! Sponsorship opportunities are available now, and individual tickets will go on sale soon: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025
...The Brad Stuver interview will be co-hosted by Landon Cotham of the terrific 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.
For this next special session update, we welcome for the first time State Rep. Josey Garcia, who represents San Antonio's 124th House District and is the first active duty woman veteran to serve in the Texas House! Now that the GOP maps have been released, we see the shameful extent of their racist power grab - and Rep. Garcia has a thing or two to say about it. We've been looking forward to this talk!
Learn more about State Rep. Josey Garcia at https://www.joseygarcia.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.
The revealing of new congressional maps ordered by Donald Trump show the extend of the damage they threaten against representative democracy - especially in Texas' biggest cities: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2025/07/30/congressional-plan-would-flip-five-seats-from-democrats-to-republicans/
...The blue dots on the Texas political map, centered on our major metropolitan areas, get a lot smaller and fainter in this new map: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/30/texas-redistricting-congressional-maps-house-republicans/?_bhlid=40de7e02fe98891fbb5d818a3f4add59b0359b2a
...Talk of a Texas House quorum break intensifies - but again, why isn't there similar talk in the Texas Senate? The reasons are many, and uncomfortable: https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/senate-democrats-are-not-off-the?r=33j12m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Members of Texas' Select Committees on Disaster Preparedness are set to meet with Kerrville and Kerr County officials - and the local public - on the July 4 flood today: https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/31/us/texas-flooding-hearing-testimony
Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is alleged to have asked a friend to dispose of a bunch of cannabis back in 2022, fearing it would be found in his possession by the DEA: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/31/sid-miller-hemp-dea-texas-marijuana-gummies/?_bhlid=ffd26c50d0097bd54b1b44869f2c85949b47a86d
Austin friends and soccer fans! Mark your calendar for Monday September 15, when we will gather for a live podcast taping with legendary Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver! Sponsorship opportunities are available now, and individual tickets will go on sale soon: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025
...The Brad Stuver interview will be co-hosted by Landon Cotham of the terrific 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.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
Punchbowl News publishes details on a new congressional district map that Texas Republicans lawmakers may release as soon as today, featuring five new GOP-leaning districts in Austin, D/FW, Houston and the Rio Grande Valley: https://punchbowl.news/article/campaigns/texas-sized-gamble/
...It bets heavily on Hispanic voters in Texas, in an election not featuring Donald Trump, to resist buyers remorse and remain loyal to Republican candidates in 2026: https://punchbowl.news/article/campaigns/gop-texas-latinos/
...The Texas Legislative Progressive Caucus will hold a press conference on Democratic options this afternoon upon the adjournment of House business, as U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries plans a closed-door meeting with those same lawmakers tonight: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/29/house-democratic-leader-hakeem-jeffries-to-visit-austin-amid-redistricting-fight/85429537007/
...The national Democratic Party is in a massive fundraising push ahead of a planned targeting of several Republican lawmakers they believe will be compromised by the new map: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/us/politics/democrats-texas-redistricting.html
...The House Majority PAC and its new Lone Star Fund have started running TV ads against those likely GOP targets in Texas: https://youtu.be/OvfgpTo2Vkk?si=sIfuvKXJMFNrhu_p
There's also a Democratic presser today being held by Dallas Senator Nathan Johnson and the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus on the status of THC regulation: https://www.facebook.com/NathanforTexas/photos/media-advisory-join-me-for-a-press-conference-on-cannabis-legislation-with-membe/1194566255807967/?_rdr
Austin friends and soccer fans! Mark your calendar for Monday September 15, when we will gather for a live podcast taping with legendary Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver! Sponsorship opportunities are available now, and individual tickets will go on sale soon: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025
...The Brad Stuver interview will be co-hosted by Landon Cotham of the terrific 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.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
UT Arlington saw yet another huge public turnout in opposition to the Trump-ordered Texas redistricting scheme yesterday, the crowd exceeding the accommodation limits of the event: https://www.keranews.org/government/2025-07-28/texas-redistricting-ut-arlington-hearing
...Democrats have begun making financial preparations for the potential daily per-member fines of $500 that may be a factor in a quorum break: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/29/texas-democrats-quorum-break-fundraising-fines-redistricting/
Austin Congressman Greg Casar went on a fact-finding mission to a San Antonio immigration court, where he found the treatment of immigrants showing up there "deeply disturbing": https://www.fox7austin.com/news/greg-casar-speaks-out-about-way-immigration-laws-being-enforced
...The Dallas Morning News confirms that ICE has been improperly detaining dozens of people in an office building in Dallas: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/immigration/2025/07/29/ice-held-migrants-at-dallas-office-for-days-families-say-exceeding-agency-standards/
...A Houston man was improperly detained for two hours recently by ICE - he shares a name and resembles an immigrant they were looking for, but was born in College Station: https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/us-citizen-ice-detained-houston/285-11f4cb64-fa4a-4a65-8d5b-518413664987
Austin friends and soccer fans! Mark your calendar for Monday September 15, when we will gather for a live podcast taping with legendary Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver! Sponsorship opportunities are available now, and individual tickets will go on sale soon: https://act.progresstexas.org/a/allstaractivism_2025
...The Brad Stuver interview will be co-hosted by Landon Cotham of the terrific 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.
For this next update from the special legislative session, we go to one of our favorite go-to voices and fighters in the upper chamber - State Senator Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio, who has just announced a re-election bid for the seat he's held since he displaced Republican Senator Pete Flores in 2020. Senator Gutierrez has been vocal in his opposition to the Trump-demanded carving up of Texas in a desperate bid to keep the U.S. House under GOP control, and his condemnation of cruel and un-American ICE activity in his district and elsewhere in Texas - we talk about those topics and more in this update.
Learn more about Senator Roland Gutierrez at https://rolandfortexas.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:
College Democrats across the state are calling for a quorum break to stop the GOP redistricting scheme: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AGqBhU9AT/
...Texas House Dems staged a "quorum break jump scare" on Friday, heading out for a short visit to California to discuss reciprocal redistricting with Governor Gavin Newsom: https://www.chron.com/politics/article/newsom-california-texas-trump-redistricting-20788484.php
...Another delegation headed for Springfield, Illinois to have a similar conversation with Governor J.B. Pritzker: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/us/politics/texas-democrats-redistricting.html
...The University of Houston saw an anti-redistricting rally prior to another public hearing held by the Texas House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting on Saturday, resulting in similar vitriol to Thursday's hearing in Austin: https://www.khou.com/article/news/politics/houston-congressional-district-meeting/285-65cbbc1a-0ad4-4468-8cda-97f259457bf5
...Almost all of the Democratic candidates to fill the long-vacant U.S. House seat for CD-18 were present and spoke: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/2025/07/27/527261/candidates-for-texas-18th-congressional-district-speak-against-redistricting/
...Dallas Rep. Julie Johnson talked redistricting this weekend on MSNBC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9k3NQH6GdU
Friday also saw a bombshell allegation by an exotic dancer who claims to have had a 17-year affair with Southlake Republican State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, who last week announced a surprise reversal on his recently-announced re-election bid: https://www.sacurrent.com/news/gop-texas-rep-capriglione-drops-re-election-bid-after-reported-affair-allegations-he-funded-abortions-38066215
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