Judge Tano Tijerina vs. Henry Cuellar in South Texas

Hovik circles back to Henry Cuellar and asks who is running against him and whether there are notable candidates. Hamparian responds with enthusiasm, naming Judge Tano Tijerina, whom he describes as a very decent man running a strong campaign. Tijerina has met with ANCA in Washington, D.C. alongside his campaign team, and Hamparian says the organization maintains regular contact with the candidate and his advisors while doing everything it can to support him.

The clip pairs the challenger’s profile with ANCA’s broader strategy. Beyond backing Tijerina directly, the organization is talking to voters and educating them on Cuellar’s record, the record detailed elsewhere in the episode involving a federal indictment and alleged Azerbaijani bribes. At the same time, ANCA is drawing attention to Tijerina’s own standing as a friend of persecuted Christians, a message tuned to the heavily Catholic communities of South Texas and Laredo.

Together with the Cuellar segment, this moment shows how ANCA translates a report card grade into electoral action. Hamparian earlier expressed hope that voters would not pardon Cuellar the way President Trump did, and here he presents the alternative those voters can choose. For audiences following U.S. races that matter to Armenian Americans, the Tijerina campaign is the concrete other option in one of the cycle’s most closely watched contests.