Vice President Kamala Harris will sit for an interview with Fox News on Wednesday — her first formal appearance on the network — as she continues her media blitz with Election Day fast approaching.
The network’s chief political anchor, Bret Baier, will conduct the interview in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where Harris is currently leading Donald Trump by two points, according to The Washington Post’s latest analysis.
Following a cautious rollout after moving to the top of Democratic ticket, Harris has in recent days embraced a spate of unscripted interviews in a bid to engage a broader audience. She has appeared on CBS News’s “60 Minutes,” the popular “Call Her Daddy” podcast, SiriusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show” and on Tuesday participated in a live interview with Charlamagne tha God, a well-known radio personality.
Harris’s decision to interview with Fox News appears to be the latest effort by Democrats to reach voters across the aisle. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the vice-presidential Democratic nominee, has appeared on the network, as has Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who quipped at the party convention this summer that “you might recognize me from Fox News.”
The Murdoch-run network, which says it reaches nearly 200 million people each month, is the go-to election news source for Republicans.
When is Harris’s interview with Fox News?
The interview will be pretaped and will air at 6 p.m. Eastern on “Special Report With Bret Baier,” a program that draws an average of 2.3 million viewers, according to Fox News.
Responding to a question on social media, Baier said the interview would be taped “as-live” before the show and aired without any cuts.
I never said it would be edited. I said it would be taped as-live before my show – You will see the WHOLE interview on @SpecialReport -Unedited. Uninterrupted unchanged. You can have the transcript too if you want. It all will air. Thanks. https://t.co/tn3CF5iqto
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) October 15, 2024
In a separate video, Baier said he will ask Harris “about things that matter” to voters, including the economy and immigration. He asked viewers to send him questions for Harris.
Ian Sams, a spokesman for Harris, took aim at Trump on social media, saying he refused a second debate with the Democratic candidate while “Harris is willing to even go on Fox.”
Who is Bret Baier?
Baier is the host and executive editor of “Special Report with Bret Baier” and the host of Fox News Radio’s “The Bret Baier Podcast.” This election cycle, Baier created “Common Ground,” a segment that Fox pitches as featuring discussions between “political leaders from across the aisle” with “the goal of finding middle ground.”
Baier started at the network in 1998 as a reporter based in Atlanta and is the author of seven books, including a biography of George Washington. He has interviewed top political leaders of both parties as well as global leaders, the network said. Last year, he co-hosted the first Republican primary debate of the 2024 presidential cycle, which Trump did not participate in.
In September, Baier said he believed it was Trump and not Harris holding up the prospect of a second presidential debate proposed by Fox. During an appearance on a conservative radio show, Baier said he did not know Trump’s reasoning, adding that he thought the former president “couldn’t get away from the light of 70 million viewers,” and would eventually have to do it “if it was on Fox and something he could agree to.”
What has Trump said about the interview?
Trump attacked Fox and Baier in a post on Truth Social after the interview was announced. He said Harris “has wisely chosen” Baier because he is “considered to be ‘Fair & Balanced’” while accusing the anchor of being “very soft” on people on the left.
“I would have preferred seeing a more hard hitting journalist, but Fox has grown so weak and soft on the Democrats,” he wrote.
On Tuesday, Trump taped an hour-long Fox News town hall that will air Wednesday, during which he repeated many false or misleading claims that went largely unchecked by the moderator.
María Luisa Paúl contributed reporting.
