This week, we're sitting down with Shelby Evans, the lead organizer behind Austin's No Kings rally, to find out how the movement actually works, who's showing up, and what comes next.

Shelby breaks down the nuts and bolts of coalition organizing — the eight-week runway, the open call for artists and musicians, the trilingual programming in English, Spanish, and ASL, and the 80+ organizations that ran out of paper at their sign-up tables. She also explains why No Kings is a movement, not a moment — and how every rally is a funnel into sustained, local action.

Plus: Alex makes a big personal announcement, Kate shares a family celebration in El Paso, and Shelby drops her drag name.

In this episode:

 * How No Kings National and local orgs coordinate — and why decentralization is the point
 * The "show-upocracy": why showing up is the backbone of organizing
 * No Kings 3 by the numbers: 8–9 million participants nationwide, 100+ voter registrations in Austin alone
 * Why the movement is pivoting toward May Day and labor solidarity

Follow & Connect:

 * Hands Off Central Texas: handsoffcentraltx.org | @handsoffcentraltx on all platforms
 * League of Women Voters: lwv.org (find your local chapter)
 * Shelby Evans: @shelbyhaeve on all platforms (Miss B. Haeve)
 * Mission: Texas on social: @missiontexaspodcast

Support the show: Love what we're doing? Become a member at patreon.com/missiontexaspodcast [https://patreon.com/missiontexaspodcast] — just a few dollars a month keeps independent Texas media alive. And if you can't spare the cash, a five-star review goes just as far. God bless Texas. 🤠

Ep. 29: Abbott Called It Antifa. Texans Called It a Saturday. (What's Next for the No Kings Movement)

Junior Ezeonu just pulled off one of the most compelling primary upsets in recent Texas Democratic politics — defeating a 16-year incumbent in a safe blue seat, severely outspent, on grassroots power alone. Now he's headed to the Texas State House representing Texas House District 101, and he's got a roadmap for flipping the legislature by 2030.

Kate and Alex sit down with the Grand Prairie city council member turned state rep-elect to talk housing affordability, the 2030 redistricting fight, why East Texas could change everything, and what Democrats keep getting wrong about their own message.

In this episode:

 * How Junior beat incumbent Chris Turner in the Democratic primary with $100K vs. a vastly bigger war chest — and what that means for the "money wins" conventional wisdom
 * His two-part housing affordability plan: banning private equity from buying single-family homes and a state-subsidized mortgage buy-down program for first-time buyers
 * Why the average age of a first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old (up from 31 just two      decades ago) and what to do about it
 * The corporate PAC pledge: Junior hasn't taken any and won't
 * Why East Texas is the sleeper opportunity that could flip the entire state — and the Stacey      Abrams-style investment it would take
 * The 2026 → 2028 → 2030 roadmap to a Democratic State House majority
 * James Talarico, Black voter outreach, and why persuasion beats turnout-only thinking
 * Why Texas is a working-class state, not a conservative one
 * VIA Grand Prairie: 13,000 rides/month, $3 a ride, and why Junior is now a transit evangelist in the legislature

Follow Junior Ezeonu: 

Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok: @CallMeJRE 

Facebook/YouTube: Junior Ezeonu | Conversations with Junior Ezeonu podcast

Support Mission: Texas: 

🎙️ Subscribe wherever you listen 

❤️ Become a Patron: patreon.com/missiontexaspodcast [https://patreon.com/missiontexaspodcast] 

⭐ Leave a 5-star review and share on social — it genuinely helps us grow

Ep. 28: Junior Ezeonu & The Primary Upset That's Changing Texas Democrats 

Texas is unique in that it has two separate Supreme Courts: one for civil cases (the Texas Supreme Court) and one for criminal cases (the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals). Currently, both courts are composed entirely of Republican justices. And we elect these judges here. 

In this episode, Kate and Alex interview three Democratic women seeking to bring balance to these courts: Holly Taylor (candidate for the Court of Criminal Appeals), Justice Chari Kelly (candidate for Texas Supreme Court, Place 2), and Justice Maggie Ellis (candidate for Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court). The discussion covers the structure and function of Texas's highest courts, the significant implications of the 2026 elections, and why these races may be among the most impactful judicial contests in recent history.

What we cover:

• How 7 out of 9 current Texas Supreme Court justices were appointed directly by Governor Abbott, highlighting the significant influence the executive branch holds over the judiciary.

• The 15th Court of Appeals: a newly established appellate court with jurisdiction over cases involving the governor and attorney general, staffed exclusively by the governor’s appointees.

• Ken Paxton has actively campaigned to remove judges who have ruled against him.

• Recent primary election results indicate that 2026 could be a significant year for Democratic candidates, with trends suggesting increased voter support and the potential for a major shift in the composition of Texas's highest courts.

Follow and support the candidates:

• Holly Taylor: https://www.hollytforjudge.com/(@hollytforjudge)

• Justice Chari Kelly: https://charikelly.com/ (@chari_kelly)

• Justice Maggie Ellis: https://www.maggieforjustice.com/ (@maggieforjustice)

Support Mission: Texas on Patreon: patreon.com/missiontexaspodcast

Ep. 27: Flipping the Highest Texas Courts—Holly Taylor & Justices Chari Kelly & Maggie Ellis

What does it take to run for Texas Lieutenant Governor as a union negotiator and not a career politician? In this episode of Mission: Texas, Kate and Alex sit down with Marcos Velez, Democratic candidate for Texas Lieutenant Governor and Assistant Director of United Steelworkers District 13, ahead of the 2026 runoff election.

Marcos brings a background unlike anyone else in the race: raised by a hotel housekeeper who made $4.25 an hour before a union job changed their family's trajectory, Marcos has spent his career negotiating with multinational corporations for better wages, safer working conditions, and equal pay for women on job sites across Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Now he's taking that same fight to the race for Lieutenant Governor.

In this conversation, Marcos and the hosts dig into:

• Why he jumped into the Lt. Governor's race and what his teenage daughter said that shook him to his core

• His top legislative priorities: raising the state minimum wage, restoring public education funding, and expanding labor rights for public sector workers

• How Dan Patrick has weaponized the Lt. Governor's office, blocking popular bills, sidelining newly elected Senator Taylor Rehmet, and running Texas government behind closed doors

• The working-class voter problem and why Latinos and Black Texans are drifting from the Democratic Party and what the party must do to earn back their trust

• Mike Collier's independent bid and why Marcos isn't worried

• His theory of victory: economic populism, unapologetic progressive values, and a union-style organizing model targeting voters from the RGV to rural Texas

Marcos also explains why the Lt. Governor's role is mainly about bargaining and setting priorities, and why his experience at the labor negotiations makes him the right fit, regardless of what the political scene expects.

The runoff election is approaching. If you're a Texas Democrat trying to understand what a working-class, Houston-based, labor-supported candidate looks like at the top of the ticket, this episode is essential listening.

Follow Marcos: @velezfortx on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook | velezfortexas.com

Support Mission: Texas on Patreon: patreon.com/missiontexaspodcast

Ep. 26: Marcos Velez on the Texas Lt. Governor Runoff and Working-Class Politics

This week on Mission: Texas, we sit down with Luke Warford, founder of the Agave Fund and former Democratic nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner, whose 2022 run turned heads nationally.  Luke breaks down why 2026 may be the perfect storm for Texas Democrats, what down-ballot candidates can learn from the Senate primary, and how the Agave Fund is building the infrastructure that actually wins elections.

In this episode:

• Luke's origin story: from the Obama campaign to Texas Railroad Commissioner to the Agave Fund

• The four conditions that make 2026 a potential perfect storm for Texas Democrats

• What down-ballot candidates are doing right in 2026 compared to 2018

• The attention economy, viral campaigning, and what Zohran Mamdani's rise tells us about modern politics

• What the Agave Fund is doing to solve the campaign manager shortage

• The SD-9 special election as a blueprint for statewide contrast messaging

Follow Luke and the Agave Fund:

agavefund.org | @LukeWarfordTX on X | Texas Public Opinion Research on Substack

Support Mission: Texas:

Become a member at patreon.com/missiontexaspodcast

Follow us @missiontexaspodcast on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube

Subscribe here and leave us a five-star review

Ep. 25: Luke Warford and the Agave Fund 

In this episode of Mission: Texas, Kate and Alex sit down with Clayton Tucker, fifth-generation Texan rancher and the Democratic nominee for Texas Agriculture Commissioner — the candidate running to lower your grocery bill, protect Texas water, and bust the monopolies rigging the system.

We discuss how just four corporations control the entire U.S. meat supply, why AI data centers are draining Texas water and driving up utility bills, and what the Ag Commissioner can actually do about it. We also get into the immigration workforce reality, the 254-county strategy debate, and why the long game to flip Texas starts local.

*We recorded this episode right before the primaries, in which Republican nominee Sid Miller lost to Nate Sheets.

In this episode:

 * Why monopolies — not tariffs — are the real driver of food inflation
 * How 4 corporations control the entire U.S. meat supply
 * What the Texas Ag Commissioner can actually do to bust monopolies
 * AI data centers, Texas water rights, and bipartisan pushback
 * The 254-county strategy debate and the long game to 2030
 * Jim Hightower's legacy and how Clayton got "voluntold" to run

📲 Follow us on Instagram, TikTok & Facebook @missiontexaspodcast for weekly clips and highlights from every episode. 

💛 Love what we're doing? Support independent Texas media on Patreon and help us keep the long game going, because this isn't about one cycle. It's about building a movement. 

📩 Contact: missiontexaspodcast@gmail.com

Ep. 24: Clayton Tucker - Ag Commissioner, Food Monopolies, and Water Scarcity

In this episode of Mission: Texas, we break down the biggest takeaways from the Texas primaries with Michelle Davis, substack writer of Lone Star Left, and David De La Fuente, Dallas political strategist and podcast host of Loserville.

We discuss the unexpectedly high Democratic turnout, why younger candidates are gaining traction across Texas, and what races revealed about where Texas Democrats may be headed next. The conversation covers the rise of James Talarico, the debate over competing strategies to flip Texas, surprise down-ballot results, and what the runoff elections may signal for the future.

We also examine whether Democrats should focus more on persuading independents and crossover voters, how messaging is changing, and why local organizing — from precinct chairs to multilingual outreach — remains essential if Texas is going to become competitive statewide.

In this episode:

 * Why Democratic primary turnout surged beyond expectations
 * What younger candidates are signaling about party momentum
 * Surprise results in Dallas, Tarrant, and congressional races
 * Competing theories for flipping Texas
 * What runoffs may tell us about where Texas goes next


📲 Follow us on social: @missiontexaspodcast
❤️ Support independent Texas political media on Patreon

📩 Contact: missiontexaspodcast@gmail.com

Ep. 23: What the Texas Primary Results Really Mean

In this episode of Mission: Texas, we sit down with Aimee Prudhomme, the new Executive Director of Powered by People, Beto O’Rourke’s volunteer-led organizing group built to flip Texas through human-to-human voter engagement. We talk about why registration is only step one, how relational organizing boosts turnout, and what it looks like to build long-term power across the whole state — not just the big cities. Aimee also shares her personal story of leaving corporate America for this work, and why community and action are the antidote to despair.

In this episode:

 * The target focus: 18–29 voters, vote-by-mail eligible seniors, and a new faith program with predominantly Black churches
 * Their “Reach” network: ~46,000 voters today and a goal of 100,000 by the midterms
 * Why “registered” isn’t the same as “engaged” — and how trust drives turnout
 * A practical pep talk for volunteering + how to get started with Powered by People

🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts 📲 Follow us on socials: @MissionTexasPodcast 📧 Email: MissionTexasPodcast@gmail.com ❤️ Support the show on Patreon

Ep. 22: Powered By People

In this episode of Mission: Texas, we sit down with Jon Rosenthal, a four-term Texas state representative, engineer, and the Democratic nominee for Railroad Commissioner, to break down one of the most powerful and least understood offices in Texas government — and why it affects every Texan’s electric bill, safety, and environment.

In this episode, we cover:

 * What the Texas Railroad Commission actually does — and why it has nothing to do with trains
 * How oil and gas industry money and conflicts of interest shape regulation in Texas
 * Why Texans are still paying higher electric bills after Winter Storm Uri
 * How Texas’ isolated grid prioritizes corporate profit over reliability and safety
 * What it will take to flip Texas, including the volunteer-driven organizing model that flipped a red seat in 2018
 * The historic importance of down ballot races in flipping the state

📧 Contact us: missiontexaspodcast@gmail.com
📲 Follow us on social media: @missiontexaspodcast

👉 Support Mission: Texas on Patreon

Ep. 21: The Railroad Commission Isn’t About Trains — It’s About Your Power Bill (Jon Rosenthal)

Released at the start of Ramadan and during Texas primary season, this episode of Mission: Texas features host Alex Clark in conversation with Zeeshan Hafeez, a progressive Democrat running for Congress. They discuss what it means to run as a Muslim Texan, his race against Julie Johnson and Colin Allred, and the role of outside political spending, including AIPAC, in shaping primary contests.

Note: Julie Johnson was on the podcast in December.  Mission: Texas also reached out to Colin Allred’s campaign to invite him onto the podcast but have not received a response.  

In this episode, Alex and Zeeshan discuss:

 * Political “othering” and its impact on Muslim American communities
 * How post-9/11 politics continue to shape representation and participation
 * Outside political spending and influence in primaries, including AIPAC
 * Comparisons to a new generation of movement-driven progressive candidates, including figures like Zohran Mamdani
 * Grassroots organizing versus establishment power
 * Building coalitions to win Texas long-term

📩 Email us at missiontexaspodcast@gmail.com, follow us on all socials @missiontexaspodcast, and support the show on Patreon to help us keep building independent liberal media in Texas.

Ep. 20: A Progressive Muslim Running For Congress (Zeeshan Hafeez)

Texas is growing faster than anywhere else — and that growth means more electoral power. As blue strongholds lose seats, the road to protecting the White House must run through the Lone Star State.  If we do not flip Texas by the next census, we risk losing the White House for a generation. 

“Mission: Texas” dives into the strategy, people, and stories needed to flip the state. 

Hosted by two Texas lawyers and parents — a former candidate and a long-time organizer, both with military roots — we mix mission-driven focus with a dose of pop-culture fun. 

Think of us as your Democratic club while you cook, commute, or go for a walk.  And don’t worry: this mission is serious, but it’s definitely not impossible.

(Viewpoints expressed are those of the hosts and not of their employers or of the U.S. Department of Defense)

Kate Rumsey

Shows