House Democrats are trying to encourage their members to make appearances on Fox News, despite the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) decision to ice out the conservative-leaning network from hosting its primary debates.
The Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), which serves as House Democrats’ official messaging arm, is hosting a training session on Friday to offer guidance for Democrats appearing on Fox News.
The session, titled “Winning on Fox News: Best Practices” and first reported by CNN, will feature Democratic communications strategists John Neffinger and Jess McIntosh.
{mosads}The Friday event is part of an ongoing effort among House Democrats to engage with conservative Fox News viewers and not limit themselves to interviews with left-leaning prime-time anchors on MSNBC or CNN.
“It’s a missed opportunity for House Democrats not to communicate directly to Fox News viewers how we are pushing and fighting to lower the cost of their prescription drugs, improve their roads and bridges, raise their wages, and clean up the corruption you’re seeing every day at the highest levels of government, even if those viewers disagree with us,” said Michael LaRosa, communications director for the DPCC.
“There are three big cable news networks out there and Fox News has the largest audience out of all three. It would be a mistake for House Democrats to write it off,” LaRosa said.
House Democrats’ engagement with Fox News comes after the DNC announced last month that it will not let the network host a Democratic presidential primary debate. The decision followed a
New Yorker report on ties between the network and President Trump’s inner circle.
“Recent reporting in The New Yorker on the inappropriate relationship between President Trump, his administration and FOX News has led me to conclude that the network is not in a position to host a fair and neutral debate for our candidates. Therefore, FOX News will not serve as a media partner for the 2020 Democratic primary debates,”
DNC Chairman Tom Perez said at the time.
But some Democratic presidential candidates are nevertheless agreeing to Fox News town halls hosted by the network’s news anchors, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), as well as South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
