Like many people across the country, senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson was shocked and amazed by the results of the 2026 midterm elections.

Liasson, a correspondent for National Public Radio and a regular contributor to Fox News Channel, said she had never seen anything like it in her decades-long career.

“(It was the) biggest swing election I’ve ever covered in my life,” Liasson told Noozhawk. “Just really knocked your socks off.”

The midterm elections will be the main topic when Liasson takes the stage at Santa Barbara’s Lobero Theatre on Tuesday. She will help make sense of the strong Democratic showing, gaining majorities in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, and winning seats in many state houses and down-ballot races.

Liasson will be the last 2026 speaker for Spotlight Santa Barbara, which was founded by Brian Goebel and Jeff Giordano. The series looks to bring forward a diverse spectrum of speakers.

The event, titled “Making Sense of the Midterm Muddle: An Evening with Mara Liasson,” will dive into what set the stage for the elections, how they affect the 2028 presidential election and what they mean for the Trump administration. 

Pete Peterson, dean of Pepperdine’s School of Public Policy and past director of the bipartisan reform organization California Forward, will moderate the event.

Goebel said they chose Liasson because of her deep experience and ability to analyze what the election results mean for the political landscape.

“She is known as a straight shooter, and I think that’s really the thing that attracted her to us in terms of putting her on for our final speaker of 2026,” Goebel said. “She perfectly captures our ethos of really bringing candid, clear conversational insights to Santa Barbara.”

Liasson first began working at NPR in 1985, where she has covered the White House and Congress, and reported on political trends beyond the Beltway. She has also covered nine presidential campaigns.

Before joining NPR, Liasson worked as a freelance radio and television reporter in San Francisco. She also served as the managing editor and anchor of a California Public Radio nightly news program, and as a print journalist for The Vineyard Gazette in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Election night was full of shockers, even for seasoned political analysts such as Liasson.

Some of the biggest surprises throughout the night were traditionally conservative states such as Texas and Kansas going blue.

Texas already featured a high-profile Senate race between Democratic candidate James Talarico and Republican candidate Ken Paxton. However, Democrats won down the entire ballot, including electing the state’s first Latina governor, Gina Hinojosa.

Liasson called the wins in red states such as Texas “extraordinary.”

“The place Republicans (did) win was Florida,” Liasson said. “That was kind of the exception that proved the rule, but the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, called this an extinction-level event for Republicans.

“We’ll see if that is borne out.”

Liasson said President Donald Trump was the driving force in this election. She believes the public reacted to his decisions, such as the Iran War, raising tariffs, and focusing on renovations to his ballroom and arch over the public’s everyday concerns about affordability.

“They rendered a pretty clear verdict on him and his party, and that was the main driver of the election,” she said.

Demographics show that several groups that supported Trump in 2024 swung away from him during the midterms, including Latinos and young non-college-educated men.

Liasson said Latinos also seemed to be angry over the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and raids by agents.

Redistricting efforts by Republicans also backfired throughout the country, as they hoped to pick up more votes. The practice, known as gerrymandering, involves drawing maps to benefit one party or candidate.

Liasson said the practice benefited Democrats in some states.

She said that when a gerrymander backfires, it can be called a “dummymander,” but added that she has heard people say the last election was so bad that it is an example of a “moronmander.”

Regarding the 2028 presidential election, Liasson said she believes the midterms’ success means the field is now wide open.

For Democrats, the midterms were good for the entire party and all potential candidates. She believes Gov. Gavin Newsom would have always been a prominent figure in the Democratic presidential primary, and that remains true after the midterms.

For Republicans, Liasson said the party needs to figure out what it stands for in the post-Trump era. She said she sees Vice President JD Vance and DeSantis as the top figures to run in 2028.

Liasson believes Vance will be damaged by his association with Trump and will struggle to win what could be seen as a third term for the president.

On the other hand, she thinks DeSantis could benefit from Republicans remaining in power in Florida.

“Ron DeSantis can claim that … his state was immune from the huge rejection of Republicans that occurred almost everywhere else,” she said.

The Spotlight Santa Barbara event on Tuesday is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Drinks and mingling will be offered before the show beginning at 6 p.m.

Liasson will be present to chat or sign autographs before and after the show, according to Goebel.

To buy tickets, click here. Tickets start at $36.