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John Kiriakou calls Texas redistricting a Republican miscalculation

His election-results special uses Bobby Pulido's congressional win and a statewide Democratic sweep to question the strategy behind Republican-drawn maps.

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John Kiriakou Story of November 8, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? 880,916 views so far, and here is what is inside it.

I Said Watch for a Blue Wave. It Was a TSUNAMI | Episode 34

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3:36Kiriakou argues that Republican redistricting in several states proved a strategic mistake.
9:04Trump's Fox News phone interview includes his argument that the election was not a personal defeat.
15:52Pulido's congressional victory anchors Kiriakou's case that Texas's Republican-drawn maps failed to protect the party.
20:19Talarico's Senate victory completes Kiriakou's account of the Democratic statewide sweep in Texas.
25:27Kiriakou examines El-Sayed's Michigan victory despite Haley Stevens's endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers.
30:46North Carolina's Democratic gains and Richard Hudson's defeat provide another example for his redistricting argument.

Bobby Pulido's move from Tejano music to Congress gives John Kiriakou a particularly vivid example for his election postmortem: a seat Republicans had redrawn to make safer instead elected a Democrat.

In "I Said Watch for a Blue Wave. It Was a TSUNAMI | Episode 34," Kiriakou argues that Republican redistricting became a liability rather than the protection its architects intended. Texas is his central exhibit, with Pulido's victory accompanied by sharp Democratic shifts in majority-Hispanic border counties.

"This race is the single greatest piece of evidence that that Donald Trump's idea to gerrymander was deeply flawed," he says of the congressional result. He places it alongside Gina Hinojosa's defeat of Greg Abbott for governor and James Talarico's Senate victory over Ken Paxton. His argument is about the breadth of the reversal, not simply an isolated surprise in a House district.

The episode also gives Trump room to offer his own explanation. In a Fox News phone interview played by Kiriakou, the president says: "I don't like to consider it a defeat for me, I wasn't on the ballot." Kiriakou rejects that separation, arguing that losing both chambers of Congress sharply weakens Trump's presidency.

North Carolina supplies his other major redistricting example. Later in the episode, he examines Democratic gains and the defeat of Richard Hudson, the man leading House Republicans' campaign organization.

The special has drawn about 881,000 views. For readers deciding whether to watch, its organizing idea is clear: Kiriakou sees the results not just as a rejection of Republican candidates, but as a failure of the electoral maps intended to help them.

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