Harris will sit for an exclusive with Fox News anchor Bret Baier in the critical battleground of Pennsylvania, set to air at 6 p.m. EDT Wednesday during the network’s “Special Report” newscast.
It’s her first formal sit-down with Fox News, an outlet beloved by Republicans, and comes as she steps up efforts to blitz the airwaves in the run-up to Election Day.
The vice president faced criticism from the right that she was being too cautious with the press after she held off on sitting for a major TV interview until roughly a month after her campaign launch. But she and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), have since shifted into a packed schedule of media appearances, using targeted interviews to help reach critical demographics.
Harris showed up last week on “60 Minutes,” “The Howard Stern Show,” “The View” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” She snagged viral moments with a recent showing on the popular “Call Her Daddy” podcast and chatted Monday with radio host Charlamagne tha God.
With her Fox News interview, Harris could be trying to reach conservative voters who are skeptical of former President Trump, who’s neck and neck with Harris in the latest national polling. The Hill’s Alex Gangitano and Brett Samuels have more on Harris’s efforts to not play it safe as she reaches out to voters in the tight race.
She could also be trying to tamp down criticism that she’s avoiding tough questions. Read more about the Harris campaign’s potential calculus from The Hill’s Niall Stanage.
Now, the campaign is flipping the script on Trump, accusing him of avoiding “mainstream” media interviews over the last month. Since mid-September, the former president has largely talked with conservative hosts and appeared on networks seen as friendly.
“He pulled out of 60 Minutes. He’s refusing to debate. And he’s refusing to release his medical records. What’s he hiding?” Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement. Read more about the criticisms from Samuels.
For his part, Trump appeared to mock Fox News after the network announced its upcoming interview with Harris, accusing Baier of being “often very soft” to guests on the left.
The interview will be pre-taped with “very minimal” editing, according to Baier, after Republicans alleged Harris’s first big interview as the Democratic nominee with CNN was edited, which the network has denied.
Election Day looms, less than three weeks away, and the presidential rivals are locked in a tight fight for the Oval Office. A pair of new polls this week – from Marquette University and Harvard CAPS/Harris – both put Harris up by just 1 point over Trump.
A forecast model from Decision Desk HQ now shows the race as a coinflip, with Harris at a 50 percent chance of winning the White House this fall. So although it’s unclear whether her media blitz or her Fox News appearance will be able to pull in new voters, even a small impact could tip the scales of the highly competitive race.
