Kamala Harris agrees to an interview with Fox News | US elections 2024

Kamala Harris will do a sit-down interview with Fox News on Wednesday, the news network announced Monday, in the most dramatic moment yet in a recent media campaign for the Democratic presidential nominee.

The interview with Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier comes as Democrats have increased their presence on Fox News as part of an outreach to undecided voters, and after CBS News' 60 Minutes became embroiled in controversy came when right-wing critics said they had edited an interview to make Harris seem more concise.

In a press release, Fox said the interview with the vice president would take place on Wednesday, October 16 and air on Special Report with Bret Baier at 6 p.m.

Harris' appearance comes after weeks of criticism that she avoided all but the gentlest sit-downs, including with Oprah Winfrey, ABC's morning talk show “The View,” with former shock jock Howard Stern and with “Late Night's” Stephen Colbert “.

Harris has also appeared on the Call Me Daddy podcast. Meanwhile, it's reported that Donald Trump is recording Joe Rogan's Full Send before Election Day.

Fox's announcement came after Time magazine owner Marc Benioff complained Sunday that Harris had declined multiple interview requests. Benioff said the rejection was “unlike any other presidential candidate,” including Biden and Trump.

“We believe in transparency and publish every interview in full,” Benioff wrote on X. Why doesn’t the vice president engage with the public on the same level?

Harris' conversation with Fox News will be her first formal interview with the network – but not the first for Democratic campaign officials. With viewership at least three times that of CNN and MSNBC, Fox is often a pragmatic choice for candidates looking for votes.

Nielsen Media Research shows that Fox News is the highest-rated network in all swing states. According to a recent YouGov poll, 54% of Republicans, 22% of Democrats and 28% of independent voters had watched the cable channel in the past month.

Jessica Loker, the network's vice president of politics, told Bloomberg that the network has seen ratings increase when Democrats are active. Baier told Axios, “If you build it, they will come.”

It's also a well-trodden path for Democrats this election cycle. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was on the network so often that he introduced himself at the Democratic National Convention in August with the words: “I'm Pete Buttigieg and you may know me from Fox News.”

Buttigieg said he was proud to speak on behalf of Democrats because otherwise their arguments and facts might not be broadcast to a Fox audience.

The same goes for Democratic Governors Gavin Newsom, Josh Shapiro, Wes Moore and Gretchen Whitmer, and Senators Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, John Fetterman and Chris Coons also stopped by the network.

Harris' appearance suggests an attempt to escape the Democrats' ideological media bubbles in the search for votes.

“We have so many elections in swing states where there are extremely close elections that even if you get just one or two points that you take away from the Republicans and put in your column, that can be 10,000 votes that win you swing state,” University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato told the Guardian last month.