Headlights: Voices from The Progressive South

SYNOPSIS:
What do you do if you have to run for office in a district that was drawn so that your political party can't possibly win it? That was the situation Kate Compton Barr faced in a North Carolina state Senate race in 2024. Her solution: radical honesty. She told voters she couldn't win, and instead talked to them about the damage that rigged maps do to democracy. Then she and some partners launched the Can't Win Victory Fund, a political action committee dedicated to recruiting other candidates to do the same — all of it focused not on flipping di...

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All eyes were on Tennessee's 7th Congressional District last week, where Republicans held onto what has been a safe GOP seat in a special election — but Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn cut the Republican margin of victory from 22 points in 2024 to under 9 points. The swing got the attention of political observers in both parties, who mostly agreed that it could spell bad news for Republicans in the 2026 midterms. We talk with Tennessee-based political writer and strategist Corbin Trent about what progressive candidates can learn from Behn's campaign, which focused on affordability and access to health care. We al...

Hey guys, 
A little bit of breaking news on the most recent episode.  We did an edit of the orginal production adding this bit in, BUT if you got this episode on release date it will not have included this edit so we wanted to make sure you had access to these details.  

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We'll talk to you soon.

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Jim Hightower has seen Texas politics from the ground up for more than half a century. From editing the progressive Texas Observer to serving as the state's unlikely Commissioner of Agriculture to writing syndicated columns and books, he has been both a participant and a savvy and often funny observer. And he's still at it! Jesse sat down with him at an Austin brewpub for a wide-ranging conversation about the Lone Star State's political past, present and future, the Democratic Party's corporate money problems, and why "populism" — a word and idea Hightower has long embraced — has circled back...

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Wilderness and untamed landscapes loom large in the South's sense of itself. Southern history and folklore are full of tales of mountains and rivers, swamps and bayous. A new magazine called Southlands aims to explore the Southern outdoors, both literally and literarily. This week Jesse talks to Southlands publisher Boyce Upholt about our relationship to our natural surroundings — and about a new book Upholt has also written, about the history and destiny of the Mississippi River. Also: a look at public employees across the South who are fighting back in court after being fired or punished for co...

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Democratic candidates romped in Virginia last week, and scored some significant wins in Mississippi and Georgia as well. What does that mean to politics in the rest of the South? It's complicated! That's why we asked Tennessee state Rep. Gloria Johnson, one of the "Tennessee Three," to join us for some analysis and thoughts about the results. She tells us why she thinks the pushback against conservative dominance in the South is real — and what it can learn not only from Virginia, Mississippi and Georgia, but also from Zohran Mamdani's win in New York City. Plus: her th...

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What does it take to run an effective progressive political campaign in the South? This week, Jesse talks to political consultant Eva Posner of Evinco Strategies, who specializes in exactly that. She focuses on candidates from working-class and marginalized communities, and also helps train campaign managers and staffers — helping to build progressive political infrastructure in places that often lack it.
Also: As wrangling continues over SNAP benefits during the federal government shutdown, we look at the importance of the food stamp program in the South, where one-third of its lower-income beneficiaries live. Virginia and Louisiana have pu...

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What are the prospects for progress in Texas? Who better to ask than Progress Texas? This week Jesse talks to Chris Mosser, a veteran broadcaster who reports for the nonprofit media platform. They talk Lone Star politics, including this year's redistricting fight and names to watch in next year's elections.
Also: how Florida sugar barons are capitalizing on their relationship with Trump; an Alabama school for LGBTQ students has to revise its mission to keep its charter; and a Texas school district locks its libraries. In the arts and culture segment, we look at the origins...

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A new report shines light on gun deaths in Tennessee. It shows that the state has high levels of both gun homicides and suicides — and they have risen as conservative legislators have rolled back gun safety laws. We dig into the data with its lead researcher, Beth Joslin Roth, and state Senator Heidi Campbell. Also: Mississippi this year declared a public health emergency as its infant mortality rate hit its highest level in a decade. It has the worst infant mortality in the country, but many other Southern states aren't much better. Health care advocates say it wi...

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The redistricting fight in Texas set the stage for a national scramble to redraw congressional lines ahead of next year's midterm elections. Among those at the center of the battle was Texas state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, a leading progressive voice in the state Legislature and one of the Democrats who fled the state in an effort to block the Republican power grab. This week, we hear from Eckhardt about that, and about the broader fight for representation in the Lone Star State. The biggest obstacle she sees? A lack of engagement by voters who feel ignored and...

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In the South, the prospects for progressive causes and candidates can be daunting. But Corbin Trent thinks the answer is not to back down or dilute their messages — it's to take strong, bold positions on behalf of the region's working people. Trent has been fighting for progressive values for a long time. He was a cofounder of the influential PAC Justice Democrats, and served as communications director for New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. A native and resident of Tennessee, he is now the creator of "America's Undoing," a new media project that is developing an ambitious progressive ag...

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Writer Alexis Okeowo grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, and then moved away from the state for college. She is a contributing writer for The New Yorker, and has reported from Africa and Mexico. She has returned to her home state as the focus of her new book, Blessings and Disasters: A Story of Alabama. In a conversation, she talks about her experience in the state as the child of Nigerian immigrants, the layers of history and connection she dives through in her narrative, and the whiplash nature of progress and backlash in the state. Also: measles spreads...

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Leah Song of Rising Appalachia joins us this week to talk about music, activism and bringing people together in difficult times. Leah and her sister, Chloe Smith, founded the band nearly 20 years ago and have combined an embrace of many strands of Southern music — from Appalachian string-band to Gospel and soul — with a commitment to social justice. Also: The troops are coming to Memphis. President Donald Trump last week announced a deployment of the National Guard to Tennessee's largest, Blackest and poorest city, with the enthusiastic support of Governor Bill Lee and the state's Republican senators. We take...

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In the wake of the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week, blame flew in multiple directions. As usual, nobody on the right wanted to talk about guns. But Kirk's wasn't even the first newsworthy shooting of the day — there was a school shooting in Colorado a few hours earlier — or the first American political assassination of the year. This week we look at the issues of guns and gun deaths in the U.S. — and particularly in the South, home to some of the nation's loosest gun laws and highest levels of gun ownership. On gun sa...

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Up until January of this year, several Southern states were among the leaders in clean energy production, with big investments in solar and wind power in Texas, Florida and elsewhere. Then came the Trump administration, with its hostility to renewable sources and championing of fossil fuels. This week, we talk to Steve Smith of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy about the status and future of energy production in the South — and the growing impact of massive new data centers and cryptomining operations, which are guzzling more and more from our regional grids.
Also, we ta...

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It's Labor Day, even in the South — the region of the country that has long been most hostile to workers' rights. From slavery through Jim Crow, from "Right to Work" laws aimed at weakening unions to low or nonexistent minimum wages, right-wing leaders in the South have long conspired to disempower labor. But in recent years a few fights — and some high-profile wins — have shown there's life in the Southern labor movement. In this week's holiday-abbreviated episode, we look at the state of play on the shop floor.

SHOW NOTES:

"They Moved My Job...

SYNOPSIS:
Florida was once the swing state that presidential elections hinged on. But over the last few decades, it has turned redder and redder. This week we're joined by writer, educator and Progressive South board member Alfred Soto to talk about what has happened to his home state — and what (if anything) he sees that gives him hope.
Also:
School vouchers! As they roll out in ever more expansive forms across most of the South, we take a look at the shifting rationale behind them. First sold as a way to give options to low-income families, th...

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The Confederacy ended in 1865, but it never really died. The iconography of the slavers' secessionist rebellion has returned again and again through the succeeding 160 years, particularly in times of backlash against progress toward racial equality. This week we look at recent moves by the Trump administration, along with a Texas school board, to once again pay tribute to the Confederacy's leaders and its so-called Lost Cause. 
The conversation this week is with Dom Kelly, president and CEO of a nonprofit called New Disabled South, which works for equality and access for people with disabilities across t...

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Miami is a Southern city by geography, but by history, demographics and culture it's really not like anywhere else in the South — or, arguably, the world. In this week's conversation, Cuban-American writer and environmental activist Andrew Otazo helps us understand the politics and personality of the South Florida tourist mecca. He's the author of a book and website called The Miami Creation Myth, and he explains how the city is built to be consumed — and not by the people who actually live there. In the news round-up, we look at the looming threat to the Voting Rights Act...

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All eyes were on Texas last week as Republican legislators moved toward drawing new congressional districts, effectively trying to steal five seats from Democratic incumbents. It's part of President Donald Trump's strategy to maintain control of the House of Representatives after the 2026 elections. But it's far from the only blatantly partisan gerrymandering Southern states. We break down the map to show that conservatives are already hugely overrepresented in congressional delegations across the region — with districts drawn to marginalize progressive voices. Then it's on to hip-hop! The conversation this week is with Corey J. Miles, an assistant pr...

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Florida has an estimated 5 million immigrants — more than 20 percent of its total population. It is also ground zero of the Trump administration's mass deportation program. With the eager assistance of Gov. Ron DeSantis and state legislators, it has seen some of the country's most aggressive enforcement round-ups and most enthusiastic cooperation from state and local law enforcement.
This week, we talk to Tessa Petit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, about the efforts of grassroots and community organizations to fight for the rights and security of the state's immigrant communities. We also take a drive ou...

SYNOPSIS: Angie Hayden became an accidental activist when she stood up against censorship in her local library in Prattville, Alabama. Now she's a founder of a statewide coalition called Read Freely Alabama, which is fighting efforts to ban books and restrict libraries across the state. We talked to her from the frontlines of a contentious fight over the control of public libraries and information. Also, in the tragic aftermath of the flooding along the Guadalupe River in Texas earlier this month, there was some fingerpointing about faulty emergency measures. But there was little discussion from state or federal officials...

Synopsis:
What does U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett do in the bathroom? The privy proclivities of our East Tennessee congressman are among the issues on the minds of Jesse and the gang from "Cast Iron Resistance" in a special podcast crossover.
Jesse joined the guys on their own show a few weeks ago, and here we present some relevant excerpts from the freewheeling conversation. Besides Burchett's toilet talks, topics include organizing efforts for progressives in the South, the poisonous impact of right-wing media, and the best ways to get politically engaged at the local level. Thanks to...

CORRECTION:
We inadvertently refer to ACLU Louisiana Executive Director Alanah Odoms as Alanah Combs. We apologize for the error! 
SYNOPSIS:
Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in America. It is also home to the country's second-largest population of immigration detainees. Last week, a group of workers from the Service Employees International Union from across the U.S. took a caravan of buses to demonstrate outside two of the state's ICE detention centers. The union's membership includes more than 400,000 immigrants, and they wanted to show solidarity with people who have been swept up in the Trump administration's m...

Synopsis:
As we close out Pride month, we thought it was a good time to check in with two leading voices for LGBTQ rights in the South: Chris Sanders of the Tennessee Equality Project and Jeff Graham of Georgia Equality. We spoke just a few days after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of U.S. v. Skrmetti, and Sanders and Graham had a lot to say about the ongoing political and legal attacks on transgender people and the queer community more broadly. Both said they hear a lot of anger and fear, but also...

Synopsis:
Whose stories count in the South — and who gets to tell them? This week, we're talking to Gwen Frisbie-Fulton, a social worker and author in North Carolina who writes about people in the rural and small-town South. She has a lot of insights about the importance of storytelling in Southern culture, and the absence of many voices in official narratives. And after last week's Supreme Court decision upholding Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors, we take a step back to consider the arc of LGBTQ rights in the South since the landmark Obergefell ruling in 2015. Southern st...

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Well before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. brought his vaccine skepticism to the federal government, many Southern states were already taking steps to weaken immunization mandates. This week, we take a look at recent moves in Florida, Louisiana and Texas to make it easier for parents to opt their children out of vaccines. Florida already leads the nation in unvaccinated kindergarteners.
The conversation this week is with Brandon Jones, political director for the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund, which is seeking out and supporting progressive candidates in local races across the Deep South. Jesse talks with...

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Talking Southern History, Gender Identity and Politics With Adeem the Artist.
As promised in our regular episode this week, here is an extended edit of our interview with Adeem the Artist. The critically acclaimed, politically engaged, non-binary singer-songwriter talks about their North Carolina childhood, their growing awareness of their own gender identity, and wrestling with the real stories of American history.
Plus, an aside on Ezra Pound and cats.
adeemtheartist.com

CONTACT:
Jesse Mayshark
jmayshark@theprogressivesouth.org
(865) 214-7764

SYNOPSIS:
Bruce Springsteen once sang that "a king ain't satisfied until he rules everything," and Republican officials in one-party-rule states across the South are doing their best to prove the point.
This week, we look at three examples of conservative attacks on the remaining pockets of liberalism in their states: Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn is calling for federal investigation of Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell; in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is populating the ranks of state university presidents almost entirely with ideological politicos, most of whom lack academic credentials; and in Mississippi, the city of Jackson is continuing...

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While much of the U.S. has given a green light to cannabis, the South remains mostly hostile to legalization. This week we look at recent moves in three states to restrict hemp-based THC products — and why Virginia still doesn't have a commercial weed market, even though marijuana is legal.
In our conversation, we talk with Ilham Askia, CEO of the East Lake Foundation in Atlanta and co-founder of the nonprofit Gideon's promise. She has worked in both criminal justice reform and community development, and she talks about the connections between the two. 
We also che...

Conservative legislators in the South have been attacking diversity programs for years, long before President Trump made a national priority of assailing "DEI." This week, we look at some of this year's anti-DEI bills in Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas — and why their allegations of anti-white discrimination are mostly bunk.
This week's conversation spotlights North Carolina state Sen. Graig Meyer, a "pragmatic progressive" who represents the Chapel Hill area. He talked about how his background in social work and education led him to seek public office; how he seeks to be effective as a member of a legislative mi...

When Reconstruction ended in the South in 1876, white political leaders moved swiftly to establish what they called a "redemption" — the re-establishment of white supremacist rule. Now, 60 years after the Civil Rights Act, white conservative political leaders are again moving to roll back advances toward racial and sexual equality. Are we in a second "redemption"? We talk about that with Princeton historian Kevin Kruse, who grew up in the South and has studied its political currents in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement. He also discusses the lessons — and hopes — provided by the history of resistance and liberation movements in the...

Immigration sweeps are picking up steam in states across the South, often with the help of state and local agencies. In this week's roundup, we look at an unprecedented enforcement action in Florida called Operation Tidal Wave, which led to the arrest of more than 1,000 immigrants, along with operations in Tennessee and along the Interstate 10 corridor through Louisiana and Mississippi.

The conversation this week is with union leader Vonda McDaniel, president of the Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee. She talks about the connections between labor rights and all civil rights, the importance of the...

In our second episode, Jesse offers the first Headlights weekly news round-up: a fight over library books in Arkansas, the rocky tenure of Louisiana's top environmental official, and an attempt to block undocumented children from Tennessee public schools. He then heads out on the road to Richmond, Va., where he talks to community organizer Quinton Robbins, chair of a grassroots group called Richmond For All. They have had success both electing candidates to local office and pushing back against big-dollar development plans that threatened local communities. In the arts and culture segment, he checks in on the first-ever Biscuits...

Welcome to Headlights! In our first episode, Jesse Mayshark — the founder and publisher of The Progressive South — introduces the podcast and project. What do we mean by "progressive"? What do we mean by "South"? And who are we, anyway? Then he takes to the streets of Knoxville, Tennessee, to hear from some of the thousands who came out earlier this month to protest the actions of the billionaires at the top of the federal government. And in an arts & culture segment, he notes a milestone for Florida native Ethel Cain — the first openly transgender artist to hit the top 10 of Bil...