On October 24, Fox’s midterm closer Sean Hannity hosted a supposed “town hall” event in Scottsdale, Arizona, with Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. With two weeks to the election, Fox’s prime-time hosts are all-in for Lake, interviewing her 7 times in the last week, while calling her a “rising star” and defending her from being called an “election denier.”
Hannity has held three so-called “town hall” events in the last eight days to promote and spoon-feed GOP candidates and their talking points. Hannity hosted Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker for what amounted to a TV rally, with the candidate speaking only 8 minutes in total during the hourlong event. Hannity’s “town hall” for Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz featured the host coaching Oz on Hannity’s “top issues,” including “woke education” and “wide-open borders.”
Lake was Hannity’s latest “town hall” guest. She has made 2020 election denial central to her campaign, amplifying baseless conspiracy theories about ballot security and vowing to crack down on the near nonexistent problem if elected governor. Lake has refused to confirm that she would honor the results of her election if she loses, and recently said she would accept the result only if “we have a fair, honest and transparent election," mirroring an established pattern for GOP candidates. Lake has utilized fringe right-wing media throughout her campaign, and she found an especially warm welcome from QAnon and white nationalist-linked programs. This summer, Lake made headlines for endorsing, then unendorsing, an openly antisemitic streamer turned Oklahoma Republican legislative candidate who said “the Jews” are evil. She also praised a Nazi sympathizer at a campaign event.
In the last week, Fox News figures have interviewed Kari Lake 7 times, culminating in the supposed “town hall" with Hannity:
- Fox host Tucker Carlson opened his October 20 show with a monologue that The Washington Post’s Philip Bump described as depicting “the erosion of American democracy, in one short cable segment,” followed by an interview with Lake. Carlson relentlessly mocked mainstream media for calling Lake an “election denier,” and said she “may be the most skillful communicator in politics.” Carlson instructed his audience not to trust the election result unless Lake wins and primed viewers to expect fraud by seizing on an innocent ballot printing error saying, “There's no proof this was deliberate, but it kind of undercuts the whole ‘election denier’ attack when you send out thousands of faulty ballots a few weeks before the election.” Carlson ended his interview with Lake, “They call you an extremist. I can't imagine a more moderate and sensible message than the one you are delivering.”