Buttigieg, Fox News in talks on town hall

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is in talks with Fox News about appearing in a town hall event on the network, a campaign spokesperson told The Hill on Tuesday.

The spokesperson, speaking a day after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) appeared on a Fox town hall, told The Hill that “reaching out to the Fox audience is something we intend to do.”

Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., has been surging in the Democratic contest. He raised more money in the first fundraising quarter than Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and placed third in one recent poll.

{mosads}Sanders, 77, appeared in a Fox News town hall on Monday night, which was moderated by anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.

The self-described democratic socialist is the first Democratic candidate to do a town hall on Fox News during this campaign season. He also participated in a Fox News town hall in February 2016 with eventual 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who appeared separately. 

The decision by Sanders to appear on the network came more than a month after Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez announced that Fox would be barred from hosting any of the party’s primary debates. He cited a story published in The New Yorker that claimed the network had extensive ties with the Trump administration.

Buttigieg, 37, is the only 2020 candidate to appear on “Fox News Sunday” in 2019.

Buttigieg, an Afghanistan War veteran, Harvard graduate and Rhodes scholar, has earned praise from the left and right for his interview performances while being increasingly lauded as a serious contender for the Democratic nomination after being unknown nationally just two months ago. 

An Emerson College poll released Monday showed Sanders at 29 percent among Democratic respondents, with former Vice President Joe Biden second at 24 percent and Buttigieg third with 9 percent. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) each received 8 percent support in the poll. 

The Hill has reached out to Fox News for comment.