Pete Buttigieg Latest Dem White House Hopeful To Brave Fox News Channel Town Hall
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has booked a town hall on Fox News Channel.
Chris Wallace will moderate Buttigieg’s Q&A, airing Sunday, May 19, 7-8PM ET.
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Buttigieg’s will be the fourth such event of the current election season hosted by FNC and the third featuring a Democratic presidential candidate. Sen. Bernie Sanders broke this election cycle’s town hall ratings, clocking nearly nearly 2.6 million viewers, last week on FNC. FNC also town-halled former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, drawing more than 1.9 million viewers. Meanwhile, Sen. Amy Klobuchar is scheduled to take questions at a FNC town hall on May 8 in Milwaukee.
Buttigieg participated in Monday night’s CNN town hall palooza and emerged the darling of the night – for declining to answer a question.
The openly gay mayor has remarked about Veep Mike Pence’s position on gay marriage and “religious freedom,” for which he got blasted by U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who claimed Mayor Pete was pushing a “hate hoax,” comparing him to Jussie Smollett.
When asked about that at his CNN town hall, Buttigieg responded, “I’m not a master fisherman, but I know bait when I see it, and I’m not going to take it.” It was the night’s biggest applause line.
Buttigieg’s town hall will mark Wallace’s first of this election season. Wallace was the first journalist from Fox News to moderate a general election presidential debate, at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, in October 2016, putting questions to candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton at the third and final debate leading up to the election.
Wallace joined the network in 2003 and is based in Washington, D.C. In 2014, he marked his 50th year in broadcasting.
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