Can Ds win Texas [Part I]?

Tuesday, March 3, 2026 will give us Uniter States Senate primaries in Texas.

The primary on the Republican side is whether unpopular incumbent John Cornyn, first elected in 2002, will pull through or become unseated, via this primary, by the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton. A third person is also in the hunt: congressman Wesley Hunt.

The primary on the Democratic side is between congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and state representative James Talarico. (They are pictured above as the two debated in January 2026.) 

One may think, “What does it matter—the Republican wins.”

There are people who assume Texas is Safe Republican. Not anymore. 

Since the 2000s, Texas has trended away from the GOP: It was party’s No. 10 best state for U.S. President in 2000 and 2004; No. 15 in 2008 and 2012; No. 22 in 2016; No. 23 in 2020. It moved up for the Republicans to No. 20 in 2024. From 2000 to 2020, a period of 20 years and 6 election cycles, the state trended favorably for the Democrats to rank as their Nos. 41 to 36 to 29 to 28 best state. (No. 31 in 2024.) The average number of states carried by United States presidential winners, since 1992, has been 29. That is…30 foe winning Republicans and 28 for winning Democrats. 

Can the Democrats, under the circumstances that they are prevailing party in a given election cycle, carry Texas?

Yes.

It will be difficult. Democrats have not won a statewide race in Texas since 1994.

Given the abysmal polling numbers for Republican-incumbent United States president Donald Trump, we will find out if this may materialize here in 2026.

Flashback 1976: The 'OCCK’ Begins

February 15, 1976—which was fifty [50] years ago from this blog topic’s publishing date—also fell on a Sunday. 

It turned out to the beginning of a serial killer running loose in Oakland County, Michigan, targeting prepubescent children, in a case which is commonly known as The Oakland County Child Killer. (This case will hereafter will be abbreviated as the OCCK.)

I wrote about and posted the topic here: Remembering the Children.

It was on this blog’s date, fifty [50] years ago, the OCCK abducted and, four days later, murdered the first known victim.

His name was Mark Stebbins. He lived in Ferndale, Michigan, a city in Oakland County, along M–1 which is known as Woodward Avenue. The Woodward Avenue Corridor. 

The embedded video, although some details are not 100-percent accurate, examines this period. It is two hours. Last month, I wrote of three Detroit-area teenaged girls murdered within the first twenty [20] days of 1976. So, this was a disturbing and dangerous period in the history of at least Greater Metro Detroit. This certainly had impact on how parents raised, and allowed freedom for, their children.

The OCCK is “unsolved.”

2026 United States Midterm Elections: Democrats May Sweep

Now that February 2026 has arrived…we are nine months from the general election for the 2026 United States midterm elections.

Due Dissidence co-host Keaton Weiss—as did co-host Russell Dobular—offered his predictions for 2026 with its year-end special.

(I was not available for the livestream.)

Weiss predicts, with the 2026 midterm elections, and thanks to how unpopular is Republican incumbent U.S. president Donald Trump, both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate will be won over as pickups for majority control by the Democrats.

If both houses flip…I find it necessary to anticipate the 2026 Democrats may also win over a majority number of the nation’s 50 states’s governorships.

Since the 1910s, the decade of the 17th Amendment (direct elections of U.S. senators by states’s voters), there have been 28 midterm election cycles from 1914 through 2022. 

Five of these cycles resulted in White House opposition-party switches for control for both houses of Congress.

In all such outcomes, a higher percentage of seats were established with winning over the U.S. House vs. U.S. Senate.

It also turns out that, with all five such midterm elections cycles—with party switches for both houses of Congress—the White House opposition party entered those years as the minority and then flipped for majority the nation’s states for governorships.

The above chart shows theses past midterm elections. 

“H-v.-S” is the percentage spread, in seats, between the lower-vs.-upper chamber of Congress. Gubernatorial outcomes are shown last.

I will be taking this into account for when it is time to write and publish my predictions. That is…whether I think just the U.S. House or that both houses of Congress—along with a majority number of states’s governorships—will switch from Republican to Democratic. 

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026.

(Next blog topic: Sunday, February 15, 2026.)

Trump Part II: One Year Later

Next Tuesday, January 20, 2026, will mark one year since Donald Trump returned to office.

I am not going to write an assessment on Trump Part II, because so much of it writes itself, and so many others [content creators] beat me to the punch, but I have reached a conclusion.

Trump—who is not MAGA but is, instead, MIGA— is not a U.S. President who intends to improve the lives of the people here in the United States.

He is, quite frankly, doing the opposite.

In terms of quality, for what he has done so far (while in office), I have written off Trump.

This may also be applicable with a sufficient number of U.S. citizens.

The [Sunday,] February 1, 2026 Progressives Chat will be an update on the 2026 United States midterm elections.

Flashback 1976: Three Teenaged Girls Murdered by Day 20

Happy New Year 2026!

(Even though this topic cannot be described as “Happy”!)

The year 2026 will mark the 250-year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Fifty years ago, in 1976, marked 200 years.

What was also interesting, in 1976, and at the beginning of the year, had to do with timing.

Strange timing.

Disturbing timing.

In Metro Detroit, Michigan, three teenaged girls—two aged 16; one aged 14—were murdered.

The dates of their murders were within the first twenty days of the new year.

January 1976.

This did make news—I suggest referring to archives (such as at Newspapers.com)—and this was very upsetting to residents especially in greater Metro Detroit areas and, come to think, the nation’s then-No. 7 most-populous state.

The victims:

• Judy Ferro (b. 1959; died January 1, 1976). A 16-year-old teenager from Farmington Hills, in Oakland County, Ferro was babysitting for a couple—their last name is Lauts—in Redford Township, in Wayne County. (This is the county in which Detroit, and myself, is located. My fraternal aunt, and her family, lived in this area.) On December 31, 1975, Ferro was babysitting for two young girls while their parents went out to ring in the new year. Ferro talked with her mother just after Midnight, with the new year having arrived, and at around 03:00 a.m. ET the parents returned to find Ferro missing; bullet holes in their ceiling; the phone off the hook; and their daughters not harmed. Around 07:00 a.m. ET, during a police search for Ferro, the 16-year-old babysitter was found dead in the Lola Valley Park area just a few blocks from the Lauts’s residence. Gary Pervinkler, a 19-year-old who was living across from the Lauts’s house, spied on Ferro; kidnapped her at gunpoint; beat and strangled her to death; went on the run; and was found dead—by a gunshot-to-the-head suicide—on April 7, 1976.

• Cynthia Cadieux (March 1, 1959–January 16, 1976). A 16-year-old from Roseville, in Macomb County (part of the Tri-County of Metro, Detroit), Cadieux was walking outside at night on Thursday, January 15, 1976. After visting a friend, and with intention to return home, Cadieux was approached by friends, in their vehicle, who asked if the teen would like a ride. She said no. That decision was followed by a cruel fate. Cadieux was found dead, approximately during the hour of 01:00 a.m. ET, on Friday, January 16, 1976. A vehicular driver came across Cadieux’s nude body along Franklin Road, close to the location of Franklin Cider Mill (a popular Apple Cider mill during Fall), in Bloomfield Hills in Oakland County. She was raped and bludgeoned to death. Her abductors, and killers, were not discovered for two years. In prison, and in 1978, Robert Anglin confessed his crime to an inmate. That inmate turned in Anglin. Accomplice to the crime was Raymond Heinrich. They were convicted in 1979.

• Sheila Srock (June 13, 1961–January 19, 1976). A 14-year-old from Birmingham, in Oakland County, Srock was daughter to two deceased parents, born more than forty years prior to Srock, and the teen was being raised by her adult brother, James (1942–2000). Sheila was babysitting for the infant daughter of her sister Nancy (born circa 1946) in a Birmingham home located just east of M–1 (also known as Woodward Avenue). On Monday, January 19, 1976, a burglar navigated the neighborhood, from one house to the next, and encountered one other victim (who was tied up). The burglar broke into Nancy’s house and encountered Sheila. The 14-year-old was raped and shot multiple times. A neighbor, on the roof of his house, witnessed the burglar in the house. Afterward, several neighbors—having heard the gunshots—were outside and wanting to know what was happening. So was Police. Sheila’s killer slipped outside the house, blended into the crowd, and escaped. Police thought the burglar was in his 20s. Turns out the murderer who confessed, in 1980, was Oliver Rhodes Andrews. He was not in his 20s. He was born the same year as my mother, in 1935, and was age 40 when he committed the crimes which included the murder of Srock. Andrews, a native of North Carolina who committed crimes in multiple states, and who was already serving a 101-year sentence in a Virginia prison for unrelated crimes, confessed in 1978 and was sentenced in 1979 to Life in Prison.

Numerous Sources:

• Find a Grave — Judy Ferro

• Find a Grave — Cynthia Cadieux

• Find a Grave — Sheila Srock

Additional Recommendation:

A good source is podcaster Nina Innsted. 

Innsted, who was born in Michigan in 1968, has a true-crime podcast titled Already Gone, which she started in 2017 (same year as Progressives Chat), and has looked into a number of crimes of murder. Ones which occurred in her birth state are especially of interest. This particular topic is covered, in the first episode (“The Babysitter Murders”), in her 2018-to-2019 series titled Don’t Talk to Strangers.

Much of Innsted’s childhood was living in the city Berkley, located in Oakland County, in Michigan. This is along the M–1/Woodward Avenue corridor which runs northwest to the city Pontiac, in Oakland County, and to the southeast, in Wayne County, in downtown Detroit. (In this area was the residence of my maternal grandparents.)

Innsted—who has a soft and sincere voice—has also done podcasts on the infamous “Oakland County Child Killer” serial murder case. That horrible period—the most notorious “Unsolved” serial murders in the history of the state—played out from February 1976 to March 1977. Next month will mark 50 years since the first victim was claimed. I will recognize this, here at Progressives Chat, with a topic to be published on Sunday, February 15, 2026.

Regarding Progressives Chat in 2026:

The next Progressives Chat, which will be about a political matter, will be scheduled to publish on the date Thursday, January 15, 2026. 

It is my intention to schedule topics—which will include the year’s United States midterm elections—on the 1st and 15th of each month. 

For any change along the way, such as with skipping a date (for, perhaps, a break), I will be considerate to make sure to keep such communication up to date.

The Last Topic for 2025

Now that December has arrived, I will be making this the “The Last Topic for 2025”—and for good reason—and I will explain why.

I have decided to not publish every week. The change came during the second half of 2025. I took count of total number of topics published since Progressives Chat launched in 2017. That number is now 650.

This works for me.

It is also my decision to end the year personally positively.

In July 2025, I adopted a dog. She is a Terrier Mix. She was estimated to have been born in January 2024.

I have a dog for the first time in my life in more than 25 years. I do like dogs. My brother is a dog person. My Aunt is a dog person. I went a long time because I did not have the time. I do now.

I am retired. And I am available to take care of this beautiful dog. She is 17 pounds. She is sweet. She is considerate. She is affectionate. She is remarkable.

I am very fortunate. When you get a new dog, you cannot know for fact what you are getting. I have a new dog who does not have a behavior problem. She is doing well. I am more fulfilled.

Her name is KC. 

The “K” is because I have a lot of family members, past and present, whose first name begins with the eleventh letter in the alphabet. The “C” is because my previous dog, dating back to my childhood, teen years, and early adult years, was named Candy. I also thought of the name Cookie. And then I realized I should combine the two initials to be her name. KC.

Given all the garbage that we endure these days, especially with U.S. politics, and how they affect our lives…it is very nice to have a new friend in my life.

I end this on a positive note, yes, but the first post in 2026—to be published on New Year’s Day—is a “Flashback” to a very negative part in history. So, this “Last Topic for 2025” is intentionally positive.

Merry Christmas!

And…

Happy New Year!

Trump–ed

U.S. president Donald Trump’s appeal for millions, who supported him, have become Trump–ed.

Among Trump’s recent achievements with his Part II presidency:

• Trump has no vision and no policy ideas for dealing with Inflation…other than H1–B Visas. (His attempts at helping The People include: a 50-year mortgage and a 15-year automobile loan. And he let everyone know, “I don’t want to hear about the affordability.”)

• The shutdown, which went on for a month, and which was brought by the Democrats, has people blaming the Republicans and Trump. (They are the incumbent party.)

• Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress have gone after citizens—and this does include people who voted for him—on SNAP benefits.

• Trump’s FBI director, Kash Patel, used a government jet to travel to be with his girlfriend at a wrestling match.

• Trump threatened, prior to Election Day, New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. (He has since backed off with such threats.)

• Trump is determined to primary U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Kentucky #04). (This is due, in part, to Massie not voting for enough of Trump’s agenda. It is also Miriam Adelson who wants Massie out. Recently, Trump stood in front of a flag for Israel and spoke appreciatively of Adelson, who was Trump’s biggest financial campaign supporter for Election 2024, stating that she loves Israel more than the United States. Massie is enormously popular with Republicans and in Kentucky.)

• Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is and are Trump’s No. 1 priority; not “Make America Great Again [MAGA]”.

• Trump and his association with Jeffrey Epstein (1953–2019) is even worse than previously considered—a coverup—which also has congressional Republicans in the hot seat. 

• Trump is losing support of MAGA. They are, frankly, not OK with the Trump administration, which are now labeled as “Pedophile Protectors”. They are also not good with continued funding for Ukraine and Israel. 

I will post videos, in the Comments, related to this blog topic.

(Next blog topic will be Monday, December 1, 2025.)