Category: Sherry Sylvester Show

Fresh off his first legislative session (and in the middle of his first Legislative Interim) Senator Brent Hagenbuch joined me on The Sherry Sylvester Show to discuss how Texas is addressing challenges from epic growth to Islamification.

A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and founder of one of the nation’s largest trucking companies, Hagenbuch was elected in 2025 to represent Senate District 30, anchored in Denton.

This summer, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick appointed him chair of the Senate Select Committee on Veterans Affairs, where he will help implement President Trump’s initiative – Freedom Haulers – to streamline the path for veterans to earn commercial driver’s licenses and strengthen the trucking workforce.

Hagenbuch sits on a half-dozen other interim committees including Business & Commerce, Religious Liberty and Transportation. We talked about the explosive growth of AI and data centers and massive power lines and traffic congestion. He also shared the conservative principles that help guide him through his first session in the Texas legislature.

I think you’ll be interested in what he had to say.

Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.

You can also listen to the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple or Spotify.

Sign up for Sherry’s 9th & Congress newsletter here.

The 2026 World Cup featured 104 matches in 16 host cities, including 2 in Texas. 7 million people attended the games but for many Americans it turned into a nationwide tailgate party that went on for weeks.

I asked my TPPF colleague, Joshua Treviño, a soccer aficionado and deep thinker on a host of global issues, to join me on my most recent podcast to discuss how international visitors reacted to the World Cup and whether the 2026 games were an effective demonstration of America’s soft power.

Did they change the way the world sees America and the way we see ourselves? You can listen to our conversation here:

Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.

You can also listen to the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple or Spotify.

Sign up for Sherry’s 9th & Congress newsletter here.

On the latest Sherry Sylvester Show, I discuss how the progressives try to play the race card in college football recruitment with Dr. Richard Johnson, head of TPPF’s Booker T. Washington Initiative and a member of Texas Southern University’s Board of Regents.

Last month, the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus called on college athletes to boycott the SEC and other Southern universities to protest the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which struck down racial gerrymandering in congressional districts. House Democrat Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declared the ruling as proof that the spirit of the “Old Confederacy” is rising again, and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dubbed it the new Jim Crow, while calling on the North to come to the aid of the South.

Dr. Johnson brings a perspective on all this that few can match. In addition to serving on the Board of Regents of Texas Southern University and his decades of experience in public policy and education, he is a former college and Army athlete himself. I think you will enjoy his perspective.

Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.

You can also listen to the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple or Spotify.

Sign up for Sherry’s 9th & Congress newsletter here.

I had the privilege of interviewing Texas State Senator Tan Parker (R-Flower Mound) at the 2026 Texas Policy Summit. We discussed the 1836 Project he helped launch through legislation, which promotes patriotic education and increases awareness of the Texas values that continue to stimulate boundless prosperity across this state.

Senator Parker emphasized the importance of preserving and accurately teaching our state’s history. Getting history right matters for the next generation so they are equipped to confront the Left’s ideological distortions of the past.

Listen to our conversation on Texas values, education, and cultural heritage here:

Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.

You can also listen to the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple or Spotify.

Sign up for Sherry’s 9th & Congress newsletter here.

Dr. William Inboden, Executive Vice President and Provost at the University of Texas at Austin, joined my podcast last week to discuss what’s happening on campus at a pivotal moment for higher education. But given his expertise in national security—and as the author of The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink—we also talked about the parallels he sees between Ronald Reagan’s handling of the Soviet nuclear threat and President Trump’s approach to Iran today: cold war versus hot war. If you missed it, I think you’ll find it a particularly timely conversation.

 No Winners & Losers this week. Have a blessed Easter. 


Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. 

You can also listen to the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple or Spotify. 

Sign up for Sherry’s 9th & Congress newsletter here.

Konni Burton is the Founder and CEO of the Texan, a digital media outlet she founded in 2019 with the commitment of only reporting news on politics and public policy that is based on what is known to be true.

Recently, Konni has reported a rise in outrage and crisis news reporting — not only on the left, but also the right — along with the explosion of conspiracy theories. I talked with her about what she is seeing as someone in the media business and what steps she believes are essential to restore discernment and thoughtful analysis to create a healthier communication environment.  

Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.

You can also listen to the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple or Spotify.

Sign up for Sherry’s 9th & Congress newsletter here.

Happy Primary Election Day!

I grew up in a political family, so the days when the polls are open are not only filled with anticipation of the final counting, but also lots of family memories. The guest on my podcast this week, Luke Macias, also grew up in a political family and I figured Election Day would be a good time to talk about the political lessons we learned growing up — what is still true and what has changed.

Luke is one of the most high-profile conservative political strategists on the right. His political career began when his father ran for public office while he was in high school and he has some great stories.

While we didn’t discuss anything about tonight’s election outcomes, we also looked at some current political and public policy trends, why more Latinos are running as Republicans, and what the deal is with Democrats outvoting Republicans in Early Voting. I think you’ll be interested.

Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.

You can also listen to the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple or Spotify.

Sign up for Sherry’s 9th & Congress newsletter here.

The New Yorker said Taylor Sheridan’s Landman demonstrates “how conservative TV might be a damn good time.” TPPF’s Sherry Sylvester invites Landman superfans Brian Phillips and Michaelanne Hurst to the show to assess the series’ core themes (hint: it’s not just about the oil industry).

Listen to the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple & Spotify

Bexar County GOP Chairman Kris Coons is one of the conservatives in Texas who understands that the bottom line of all politics is public policy. Kris has worked for years to educate voters in San Antonio on why elections matter, making enormous gains while pushing back against those city and county leaders who advocate looney progressive policies.

I caught up with Kris at the recent statewide convention of the Texas Federation of Republican Women in San Antonio and got a download on what is happening on the ground in one of Texas’ big blue cities.

Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.

You can also listen to the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple or Spotify.

Sign up for Sherry’s 9th & Congress newsletter here.

Senator Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, who was recently appointed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to chair a joint committee on Free Speech and Civil Discourse, talks with Sherry about how we can restore political discourse in Texas and America.

Listen to the Sherry Sylvester Show on Apple or Spotify.

Subscribe to the weekly Winners & Losers and 9th & Congress newsletter.