Texas Public Policy Foundation
45 episodes listed below
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TPPF Distinguished Senior Fellow, Sherry Sylvester, has spent decades working at the nexus of public policy and politics. She began as a decidedly left-leaning Democrat on the East Coast but years of working closely with the left-wing pushed her to the right. After two decades in Texas, she is committed to Keeping Texas Texan — a beacon of freedom and liberty, a center of innovation, and a major force in the global economy. Coming off a 17-year stint working around the Texas Capitol, including 7 years as Senior Advisor to Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, 9th & Congress presents her insights and updates on po...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Sherry Sylvester turns conservative Texas policy debates into detailed conversations about institutions, political strategy, media, and implementation.
Sherry Sylvester brings Texas policy arguments into interview form, moving from school performance and lawsuit reform to political journalism, medical education, and film incentives.
A school board trustee brings reading scores; your Texas politics habit gets refreshingly local.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A Texas campus-politics conversation about free speech, governance, and who gets to set the terms of inquiry.
This episode tracks Texas higher-education politics through Sherry Sylvester and Sen. Paul Bettencourt, who argue for open inquiry, civic seriousness, and a university system measured by student attainment and research rather than DEI.
A pointed Texas policy discussion about merit, standards, and oversight in medical schools.
This episode takes a Texas policy fight about merit and standards in medical schools and turns it into something more grounded: who gets trained, who gets trusted, and what that means for patients. Sherry Sylvester and Dr.
A campus civics conversation that turns disagreement into a student habit.
Ben Crockett's conversation with Sherry Sylvester reads as a campus civics pitch rooted in Texas A&M, student government, and a clear argument for what students should carry with them before graduation.
A San Antonio conversation on Republican organizing, turnout, and the harder task of reaching city voters.
The episode offers a focused look at local Republican politics in San Antonio, moving from why Chris Coons ran to her view that the city is drifting away from the state.
A Texas-centered conversation about Gaza, Israel coverage, and Holocaust education.
This episode keeps its attention firmly on Texas, starting at the Texas Public Policy Foundation's Annual Policy Summit and then moving through Jay Rubin's long presence in the Austin Jewish community, his work at Texas State, and his concern with how Israel is covered in Texas…
A Texas conversation about media curation, outrage, and the civic cost of living inside our feeds.
This episode treats news consumption as a habit problem as much as a political one. It keeps circling the same basic concern: people now meet the world through algorithms, narrow feeds, and outlets that can reward outrage more easily than clarity.
A Texas culture-policy conversation that uses Landman to explore ambition, legacy, and the limits of state incentives.
This episode centers on Texas culture policy, with Senate Bill 22 and the push to use state incentives to bring more filmmaking to Texas. It also treats Landman as a useful case study for ambition, inheritance, and generational conflict, with a brief spoiler warning around…
A long-view case for why courts still shape Texas's economy.
It frames lawsuit reform as part of Texas's economic story, not as a narrow policy dispute. The argument reaches back to the old picture of Texas as a place where litigation ran wild, then follows the claim that reformers helped steer it toward the Texas of today, with fair and…
Combative civics for an unstable political moment.
Homespun conservative reactions to public disorder.
Antiwar interviews without institutional politeness.
Georgia politics, climbing fast.
Practical tech, local questions, plain answers.
Campaign mechanics, without the polish.
Sherry Sylvester speaks with Ben Crockett, a Texas A&M political science major set to graduate in May.
Sherry Sylvester interviews journalists Kathleen McElroy and Christy Hoppe about the state of journalism, covering topics like media bias, the role of journalism education, and how news consumption is shaped by polarization.
Dr.
The conversation is taped before the Texas primary, but it skips prediction and stays with biography instead.
Sherry Sylvester frames the conversation around Texas public education and the long fight over reform.
Sherry Sylvester welcomes Lee Parsley, the president and general counsel of Texans for Lawsuit Reform, for a conversation about why lawsuit reform still matters in Texas.
Sherry Sylvester welcomes Senator Paul Betancourt to talk about free speech and civil discourse in Texas higher education.
Sherry Sylvester uses the end of the Austin legislative session to raise a question about Texas medical schools and how they are responding to merit reforms.
The host records from the statewide conference of the Texas Federation of Republican Women in her hometown and sits down with Chris Coons, chair of the Bexar County Republican Party.
Jay Rubin argues that the October 7 attack, the hostage crisis, and the Gaza war cannot be separated from Texas politics, campus protests, and media coverage in the United States.
Conservative policy experts analyze Landman through the lens of Texas cultural identity and generational conflict.
The legacy media committed suicide.
Sherry Sylvester brings back Dr.
Sherry Sylvester opens as the Fourth of July approaches.
Sherri Sylvester starts with the current political climate of red alerts, conspiracy theories, and the struggle to stay anchored in the facts.
Sherry Sylvester brings Ryan Gravatt back to the microphone to talk about a wide-ranging research project on digital campaigning and voter choice.