Another insane, and incredibly dark first full week of 2026 - let's hope it's not setting a permanent tone. Regardless, we plow forward into this crucial midterm election year together - and we're joined this week to talk it through by CD-33 Democratic candidate Zeeshan Hafeez of Irving.
Learn more about Zeeshan and his run for Congress at https://www.zeeshanfortexas.com/.
Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
Protests have begun across Texas in reaction to the ICE killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday, including Houston: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/trending/article/renee-nicole-macklin-good-ice-protests-houston-21283230.php
...And Dallas: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2026/01/08/emergency-protest-begins-at-dallas-city-hall-after-fatal-minnesota-ice-shooting/
...And Austin, and neighboring Pflugerville: https://www.statesman.com/news/article/austin-protest-minneapolis-ice-shooting-21283395.php
Edinburg Republican Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz joined united U.S. House Democrats in passing a three-year extension of Affordable Care Act premium subsidies yesterday - she's the exception that proves the rule, that Republicans are all but united against Obamacare: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/01/08/texas-congress-de-la-cruz-vote-aca-extension-bill/
Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson has handed the entire Texas registered voter roll over to the Donald Trump DOJ, including sensitive individual identity information: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/01/09/texas-voter-roll-trump-administration-justice-department-democrats-dnc/
This Tuesday, January 13, the Funky East Dallas Democrats (the FEDDs!) will host an online meet and greet with a bunch of Democratic statewide candidates, including Senatorial candidates Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico: https://www.fedds.org/eventinfo/jan1326statewide
Early voting in the March primary starts in mere weeks, on February 17 - the time to research your ballot is right now: https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2026/texas-march-2026-primary-ballot/?_bhlid=7d8eca3d2a16adc7c9b44185414443fa32be6d84
See the full list of 2026 races and candidates, courtesy of Lone Star Left, HERE and HERE.
Check out our web store, including our newly-expanded Humans Against Greg Abbott collection: https://store.progresstexas.org/
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.
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
We couldn't be more excited about Progress Texas' new effort to partner with great community radio stations across Texas, which has started with the legendary KPFT in Houston carrying our weekly "In Progress" roundtable talk on Sunday mornings at 11. Podcasting Director Chris Mosser was featured on the KPFT program "The Midterms" on Tuesday morning by host and Houston attorney Earnest Wotring, and we present that conversation in this podcast episode.
Make a tax-deductible contribution to our radio initiative HERE, and to our Spanish language expansion HERE.
Learn more about Earnest Wotring and his work at https://www.bakerwotring.com/our-attorneys/earnest-w-wotring
Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
The brutal killing of 37-year-old mom Renee Nicole Macklin Good yesterday by a masked ICE agent in Minneapolis is a warning to the entire nation - the Trump machine is now unafraid of openly murdering its opponents: https://apnews.com/article/ice-shooting-minneapolis-minnesota-9aa822670b705c89906f2c699f1d16c5
Early voting in the March primary starts in mere weeks, on February 17 - the time to research your ballot is right now: https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2026/texas-march-2026-primary-ballot/?_bhlid=7d8eca3d2a16adc7c9b44185414443fa32be6d84
See the full list of 2026 races and candidates, courtesy of Lone Star Left, HERE and HERE.
Check out our web store, including our newly-expanded Humans Against Greg Abbott collection: https://store.progresstexas.org/
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.
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
One of the big early stories of 2026 is a lawsuit filed against the Texas Education Agency or TEA and its commissioner Mike Morath by the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, the nation's primary union of public school educators, in response to the attempted purge of teachers who were targeted for their views expressed online about Charlie Kirk and his murder last year. Texas AFT President Zeph Capo joins us to explain the lawsuit and the context behind it - context that goes far beyond just the Charlie Kirk matter, and includes the terrible circumstances that have been allowed to develop in our schools over three decades of Republican mismanagement.
Learn more about the lawsuit: https://www.texasaft.org/releases/texas-aft-sues-the-state-over-baseless-investigations-into-educators-after-the-assassination-of-charlie-kirk/
Learn more about Texas AFT at https://www.texasaft.org/.
Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
The Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers has filed a lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency and Commissioner Mike Morath over their efforts to smear and fire teachers over comments made on social media about Charlie Kirk: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/us/american-federation-teachers-charlie-kirk-lawsuit.html
Potentially derailing the mobility of future Texas J.D.'s, the Texas Supreme Court has officially removed oversight by the American Bar Association over Texas law schools: https://www.keranews.org/news/2026-01-06/texas-supreme-court-ends-american-bar-association-law-school-accreditation
Donald Trump, incensed at Laredo Congressman Henry Cuellar's apparent lack of gratitude for Trump's pardon late last year, has endorsed one of Cuellar's Republican challengers: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/trump-endorses-tano-tijerina-running-against-democrat-henry-cuellar-rcna252686
Texas Big Oil has been largely silent on Trump's ideas that they'll invest in the "rebirth" of Venezuelan oil production - it's a huge and risky investment, and the market's not demanding more supply at the moment: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/01/07/texas-trump-venezuela-oil/
...Besides, petroleum is still poisoning our planet - and Texas has become a primary source of that poison: https://grist.org/energy/texas-clears-the-way-for-petrochemical-expansion-as-experts-warn-of-health-risks/
Early voting in the March primary starts in mere weeks, on February 17 - the time to research your ballot is right now: https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2026/texas-march-2026-primary-ballot/?_bhlid=7d8eca3d2a16adc7c9b44185414443fa32be6d84
See the full list of 2026 races and candidates, courtesy of Lone Star Left, HERE and HERE.
Check out our web store, including our newly-expanded Humans Against Greg Abbott collection: https://store.progresstexas.org/
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.
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
Our first Happy Hour of the crucial midterm year features our first conversation with veteran and Dallas attorney Tony Box, whose experience in the military, with the FBI during 9/11, and as a lawyer working both sides of the "vs" makes him an interesting Texan indeed. Tony is the third candidate to join a crowded Democratic Primary for the open Texas Attorney General seat, including former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski and Dallas State Senator Nathan Johnson.
Learn more about Tony Box at https://tonyboxfortexas.com/.
Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
Dr. Peter Hotez, Texas' top medical hero, recommends that parents ignore nonsensical new childhood vaccine recommendations coming from the Trump administration, and instead rely on the expertise of their kids' doctors: https://www.tpr.org/bioscience-medicine/2026-01-05/texas-expert-says-changes-to-childhood-vaccine-schedule-are-a-grave-mistake
Republicans in both Dallas and Hays counties have abandoned plans to hand-count ballots in the upcoming March primary: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/republicans-two-texas-counties-ditch-plans-hand-count-ballots-rcna252388
Gubernatorial candidate Andrew White has dropped out of the race, citing fundraising hurdles - he throws his support behind Democratic frontrunner Gina Hinojosa, who graciously accepts: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/01/05/andrew-white-drops-out-texas-governor-democratic-primary/
Michelle Davis at Lone Star Left reminds us that, amidst the news of the move on Venezuela, Big Oil is not an actual economic necessity for Texas - it's rather a symptom of Republican corruption: https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/texas-oil-american-wars
On this fifth anniversary of the January 6th uprising, we must renew the events of that day in our minds - not as a memory of a past threat, but as a reminder of what's at stake in the midterm elections: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/january-6th-and-the-never-ending-coup-trump-election-venezuela-stephen-miller-greenland?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share
Early voting in the March primary starts in mere weeks, on February 17 - the time to research your ballot is right now: https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2026/texas-march-2026-primary-ballot/?_bhlid=7d8eca3d2a16adc7c9b44185414443fa32be6d84
See the full list of 2026 races and candidates, courtesy of Lone Star Left, HERE and HERE.
Check out our web store, including our newly-expanded Humans Against Greg Abbott collection: https://store.progresstexas.org/
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! 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 reactions from elected leaders regarding the plucking of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro from power predictably fall largely on party lines: https://www.chron.com/politics/article/texas-politicians-react-to-venezuela-operation-21274471.php
...Dallas State Rep. Venton Jones got stuck in St. Maarten due to Venezuelan airspace restrictions: https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/politics/national-politics/texas-state-representative-stuck-caribbean-flights-canceled-after-us-military-operation-venezuela/287-28653a3e-0f49-4f66-9b1c-362dfb523a5b
...It's all about oil, but just grabbing the dictator does not guarantee an easy path for American and Texan petroleum interests: https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/trumps-venezuela-oil-strategy-raises-questions-over-immediate-gains-texas-1768184
...Don't miss a terrific discussion and analysis of the Venezuela situation from last night with a group of Texas candidates for office, all with military and intelligence backgrounds, organized by Richardson Area Democrats: https://www.youtube.com/live/_BDZ4Uz94K0?si=JimxQ8coTjy0R9Tq
See the full list of 2026 races and candidates, courtesy of Lone Star Left, HERE and HERE.
Check out our web store, including our newly-expanded Humans Against Greg Abbott collection: https://store.progresstexas.org/
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
On this very first episode of our weekly roundtable session, we try to get positive for once - this time we go around the horn and talk about the ways in which all of us plan to up our political game in the all-important mid-term election year of 2026! If you've already blown your regular resolution, never fear - there's still time to rise to the political challenges we ALL face in this crucial new year.
Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
As of New Year's Day on Thursday, SB-8 takes effect, requiring Texas sheriff's offices with jails to enter into immigration enforcement partnership agreements with ICE: https://www.kut.org/politics/2025-12-30/new-texas-laws-2026-taxes-immigration-ai
...Also Thursday, if you rent your home, your rights against your landlord have been eroded by SB-38: https://www.fox7austin.com/news/sb-38-how-new-property-rights-law-changes-game-texas-renters
...Blocked at the moment by a federal judge, SB-2420 - a law designed to require app developers to accommodate younger users - will not begin as scheduled on Thursday: https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/texas/federal-judge-texas-app-verification-law-blocked/285-f3536b2b-42c7-4a84-9bc8-e4e09d753f88
Progress Texas' five most popular podcasts of 2025: #5 was our update on the July 4 flood the following Monday (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daily-dispatch-7-7-25-texas-flood-death-toll-a/id1552998795?i=1000716183395), #4 was our legislative preview with State Rep. James Talarico (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-191-texas-legislative-preview-with-rep/id1552998795?i=1000683946504), #3 was our In Progress preview of the first No Kings rally in June (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-progress-no-kings-protests-the-view-from-cali-and/id1552998795?i=1000712799933), #2 was our coverage of the "People Vs. The Power Grab" rally in Austin in July (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/special-live-pod-austins-the-people-vs-the-power-grab-rally/id1552998795?i=1000719192502), and our top episode of 2025, a discussion with Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder on the party's HQ relocation to Dallas: (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/minisode-chair-kendall-scudder-on-staff-changes-and/id1552998795?i=1000728437380).
See the full list of 2026 races and candidates, courtesy of Lone Star Left, HERE and HERE.
Check out our web store, including our newly-expanded Humans Against Greg Abbott collection: https://store.progresstexas.org/
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! 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:
Chris returns from a Christmas trip to New Orleans hoping to host Mayor-Elect Helena Moreno sometime next year: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/06/us/new-orleans-mayor-helena-moreno.html
Last week's SCOTUS call against deploying Texas National Guard troops into Chicago is the right call - considering how Texas would likely react if the tables were turned: https://www.expressnews.com/opinion/editorial/article/texas-troops-illinois-supreme-court-21260958.php
Both Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico have made a rare move for Democrats - openly embracing religious views in their political messaging: https://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/bud-kennedy/article313929686.html
Current Republican views on immigration have devolved significantly from old-school GOP views of immigrants as an economic engine for Texas: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/immigration-emmett-bush-baker-perry-republican-21257013.php
See the full list of 2026 races and candidates, courtesy of Lone Star Left, HERE and HERE.
Check out our web store, including our newly-expanded Humans Against Greg Abbott collection: https://store.progresstexas.org/
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
'Twas a year of high highs and low lows for Texas progressive types, and as we roll through the holidays and steel ourselves for what looks like exciting prospects in the midterm year of 2026, we look back on both the Texans that gave us hope - and the Texans who gave us heartburn - in the 2025 rundown of the five best and five worst Texans of the year.
Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock is asking Attorney General Ken Paxton for legal cover to exclude private schools with ties to CAIR or China from the state's new private school voucher program: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/paxton-islamic-schools-vouchers-21257343.php
The recently-unsealed divorce records between Paxton and his soon-to-be-ex-wife State Senator Angela Paxton reveal full blame for the divorce from the Senator upon the AG, and his insistence that she receive "nothing" in the settlement: https://www.chron.com/politics/article/ken-paxton-divorce-records-unsealed-21254129.php
The San Antonio Express editorial board suggests that Texas voters "flush" Ken Paxton over his "creepy" new tipline soliciting photos of alleged bathroom bill violators: https://www.expressnews.com/opinion/editorial/article/ken-paxton-transgender-bathroom-politics-21252847.php
Ted Cruz is said to be formulating a 2028 run for President, setting up a clash with Trump VP J.D. Vance: https://azat.tv/en/ted-cruz-president-2028-vance-maga/
See the full list of 2026 races and candidates, courtesy of Lone Star Left, HERE and HERE.
Check out our web store, including our newly-expanded Humans Against Greg Abbott collection: https://store.progresstexas.org/
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! 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:
New Quinnipiac University polling paints a dismal picture for Donald Trump - but also dissatisfaction among Democrats with their own party: https://www.kvue.com/video/news/politics/texas-this-week/new-polling-shows-voters-intentions-ahead-of-2026-midterm-elections-texas-this-week/269-51e19d7c-319b-40df-8408-11c9ffdba478
...Trump's lack of discipline and expertise may be the undoing of his own efforts to establish an American authoritarian regime - but he still has three years to work on it: https://www.vox.com/politics/472346/trump-democracy-2025-haphazard-authoritarian
McClennan County Justice Of The Pease Dianne Hensley, cleared to sue the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct for calling her on denying same sex marriages in her courtroom, is now going after the SCOTUS decision that recognized those marriages in 2015: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/19/texas-judge-same-sex-marriage-supreme-court-obergefell/
Texas' near-complete ban on abortion care has impacted both new OB/GYN trainees, creating a reproductive medicine "brain drain", but has also pressured experienced veterans of the field to either leave Texas or retire early: https://www.houstonpress.com/news/abortion-ban-is-pushing-medical-students-out-of-texas/
Texas' cooperation with Trump's mass deportation efforts have undermined a growing number of criminal cases, as DA's say undocumented witnesses are increasingly reluctant to participate: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/22/texas-district-attorneys-deportation-witnesses-criminal-cases-immigrants/
Polling in the race for the Democratic nomination for Texas Attorney General shows a current virtual tie between Dallas State Senator Nathan Johnson and former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/meet-the-democrats-running-for-texas-attorney-general/
See the full list of 2026 races and candidates, courtesy of Lone Star Left, HERE and HERE.
Check out our web store, including our newly-expanded Humans Against Greg Abbott collection: https://store.progresstexas.org/
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
As we wind down another wild week, we recap the news and prepare for the upcoming holiday break. In an era when conservative Christians are weaponizing Christmas into a culture war cudgel, what deeper meaning can progressive folks take away from the Nativity story? We dive in for our regular Friday hang.
Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work into this crucial upcoming election year at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
The U.S. House of Representatives closes down for the holiday after passing a Republican healthcare bill that does not protect ACA subsidies - all Texas Republicans voted for it, and all Texas Democrats voted no: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/19/texas-republicans-congress-health-care-obamacare-subsidies-2026-midterms/
...Less unity among Texas House Democrats, however, as both Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez voted for and facilitated the passage of a bill criminalizing gender care for trans kids: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/12/democrats-should-kick-the-three-transphobes-who-voted-for-mtgs-bill-out-of-the-caucus/
Senate candidate James Talarico and congressional candidate Bobby Pulido endorsed each other at a joint rally in South Texas yesterday: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/18/texas-james-talarico-bobby-pulido-senate-congress/
Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett's comments on that strange Donald Trump speech this week: https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/17/politics/video/rep-jasmine-crockett-on-trumps-address-to-the-nation-like-a-used-car-salesman-in-front-of-the-american-people
Donald Trump, possibly desperate to put that bizarre speech behind him, has signed an executive order relaxing restrictions on medical use and research regarding cannabis products: https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/texas/trump-texas-marijuana-weed-medical-cannabis-industry-san-antonio/273-16dd9155-97cb-49d8-b076-262adc2c2720
Texas DPS has over doubled their fleet of surveillance drones under Operation Lone Star - it's now almost as big as the U.S. Border Patrol's federal inventory: https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-dps-drone-fleet-doubled-in-size/
See the full list of 2026 races and candidates, courtesy of Lone Star Left, HERE and HERE.
Check out our web store, including our newly-expanded Humans Against Greg Abbott collection: https://store.progresstexas.org/
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! 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:
That list of over two thousand "potential noncitizens" flagged as being possible illegally registered immigrants on Texas' voter roll includes dozens who have recently proven their citizenship to Texas DPS: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/18/texas-voter-roll-citizens-investigation/
...Austin State Rep. Gina Hinojosa holds a commanding lead for the Democratic nomination to take on Governor Greg Abbott in November, while the race for attorney general is a virtual tie between Dallas State Senator Nathan Johnson and Joe Jaworski: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/67aa7aa3e284b002cd6a420e/t/694292a4ac28ed4d522f38b6/1765970596857/TXDem2026GovAG_TSU.pdf
Houston Mayor John Whitmire has been formally reprimanded by the Harris County Democratic Party for his centrist governing style - he's barred from future endorsements by the county party: https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/houston-mayor-john-whitmire-harris-county-democratic-party-endorsement-withheld/
What creative use might YOU come up with for Ken Paxton's new potty police tip line? https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/texas-womens-privacy-act-complaint-form
Texas State University, citing "the current climate of our state", has rescinded their own invitation to the Black History 101 Mobile Museum to visit their San Marcos campus for Black History Month in February: https://universitystar.com/34095/news/aclu-expresses-concern-after-texas-state-revokes-approval-for-black-history-museum-visit/
A blue wave continues to build with a whopping 73% win in a three-way special election by a Democrat in Kentucky for their state senate: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5651795-democrat-gary-clemons-elected/
See the full list of 2026 races and candidates, courtesy of Lone Star Left, HERE and HERE.
Check out our web store, including our newly-expanded Humans Against Greg Abbott collection: https://store.progresstexas.org/
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.
What a terrific time at BOTH of our 2025 holiday parties! The second, in Dallas, went down at the awesome People's Last Stand in Mockingbird Station on Monday night and, like our Austin celebration, saw a record crowd come out for a great live talk with Austin State Rep. and gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, Austin State Rep. and candidate for Texas Lieutenant Governor Vikki Goodwin, Texas Attorney General candidate Joe Jaworski, and outgoing House Democratic Campaign Committee Chair and Houston State Rep. Gene Wu! Once again, THANK YOU to all the panelists, donors and attendees who made our 2025 holiday gatherings and fundraiser a terrific success.
Learn more about Rep. Gina Hinojosa at https://ginafortexas.com/.
Learn more about Rep. Vikki Goodwin at https://www.vikkigoodwin.com/.
Learn more about Joe Jaworski at https://www.jaworskifortexas.com/.
Learn more about Rep. Gene Wu at https://www.genefortexas.com/.
Thanks for listening! Learn more about Progress Texas and how you can support our ongoing work into the new year and beyond at https://progresstexas.org/.
Stories we're following this morning at Progress Texas:
The Texas Democratic Party's effort to fill every state and federal race on the 2026 ballot represents the very first time that either party has done so in state history: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/17/texas-democrats-down-ballot-2026/
Texas DPS has continued compiling a list of transgender Texans while refusing to explain what it's for: https://www.kut.org/politics/2025-12-15/texas-trans-transgender-drivers-license-id-list-privacy
The Gaines County measles outbreak resulted in a massive decline in school attendance at Seminole ISD schools, resulting in an educational delay that will take months if not years to overcome: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/17/texas-measles-mennonite-seminole-aftermath/
...Meanwhile the Mennonite community at the center of the outbreak is more vexed by health officials blaming them for the outbreak, and are now even more deeply dug in against vaccines: https://www.hoover.org/news/absences-texas-school-district-spiked-41-percent-after-measles-outbreak-says-hoover-scholar
We had a terrific time this year at both of our 2025 Holiday Parties! THANK YOU to all of our supporters and attendees: https://progresstexas.org/blog/live-podcast-lineup-progress-texas-holiday-parties-now-released
See the full list of 2026 races and candidates, courtesy of Lone Star Left, HERE and HERE.
Check out our web store, including our newly-expanded Humans Against Greg Abbott collection: https://store.progresstexas.org/
Thanks for listening! Our monthly donors form the backbone of our funding, and if you're a regular, we'd like to invite you to join the team! Find our web store and other ways to support our important work at https://progresstexas.org.