Where to find Blaise's reporting

This week’s Texas primary elections were heated — and historic in terms of campaign spending. On today’s show, Blaise Gainey, state politics reporter for The Texas Newsroom, joins Kimberly to share his election takeaways and the economic issues that brought voters out to the polls. Plus, what does the Texas Railroad Commissioner have to do with oil and gas? And, we’ll pit Texas icons against each other during a round of This or That.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• "Winners, losers and runoffs: How Texans’ November ballot is shaping up after the primaries" from KUT News 
• "Across Texas, early voters share what’s pushing them to the polls for the 2026 party primaries" from KUT News
• "Big money moved the needle and down-ballot chaos reigned in Texas' action-packed primaries" from The Texas Tribune
• "Bo French, Jim Wright head to runoff for seat on Texas Railroad Commission" from The Texas Tribune
• "Big Red Is Texas Barbecue’s Unofficial Signature Soda" from Texas Highways
• "Why Topo Chico Is The Fizzy Water With A Loyal Fan Base" from Southern Living

We love hearing from you. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org.