Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) called Fox News a “state-owned news channel” while criticizing the news outlet’s impact on voters in her state days after her reelection defeat.
“It’s time we all quit dancing around what is now a state-owned news channel,” McCaskill told The New York Times.
{mosads}She said she would walk into restaurants in Missouri and see Fox News running footage of the migrant caravan traversing Mexico toward the U.S. border.
Trump hyped up the caravan in the weeks before the election, using it against Democrats.
The effort appeared to pay dividends in Missouri and other states that Trump easily won in the 2016 presidential election.
Along with McCaskill, Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.) also lost in states won by Trump. Sen. Bill Nelson (Fla.) is behind in his race to Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R).
On the other hand, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) sailed to reelection in his state, where Trump is highly popular. Sen. Jon Tester (D) also beat back a fierce challenge in Montana.
McCaskill lost to Josh Hawley, Missouri’s attorney general, by roughly 6 percentage points, failing to win a third Senate term.