This is an excerpt from the Progress Texas Daily Dispatch, delivered every weekday by Progress Texas Communications Director Chris Mosser. Rapid response on the breaking news stories Texas progressives need to know—all in less than 10 minutes!

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We’re living through a truly historic moment, y’all, including the trifecta of women who appear to be set to lead a dominant Democratic Party into 2027. Houston State Rep. Senfronia Thompson tied up her commitments to pretty much seal the deal and become Speaker for the Democratic majority, already the longest-serving Black lawmaker in Texas history and the longest-serving woman in any of the 50 state legislatures after 54 years in the Texas House. She was first elected in 1972, when she was one of two Black women in the Legislature, alongside Dallas legend Eddie Bernice Johnson. Thompson endured decades of racism and sexism while building a reputation as one of the House’s most influential members, and that goes for both parties. Support for Thompson’s candidacy for Speaker has been notably bipartisan, and her remarks on taking the job are grounded in cooperation for Texas, not in partisan score-settling.

There’s broader historical significance afoot here in a remarkable set of firsts: for the first time in state history, women will hold all three of the Texas government’s top political leadership positions simultaneously—Ms. T as the first woman and first Black lawmaker elected speaker of the Texas House, Gina Hinojosa as the first Hispanic governor of Texas, and Vikki Goodwin as our first female lieutenant governor. Michelle Davis at Lone Star Left points out also that, by a fair sight, the majority of the new Democratic House majority in Texas are women—current count, 50 women and 32 men, with a few loose ends still to manage.