FOx News

Molly Butler / Media Matters

Research/Study Research/Study

A list of Fox hosts and personalities who have pushed the “great replacement” theory

Written by Jane Lee & Alicia Sadowski

Published

Despite a slew of attacks fueled by “great replacement” talk and calls from civil rights organizations condemning the network for promoting it, Fox News has continued to enable promotion of the blood-soaked conspiracy theory. Fox host Tucker Carlson, who has played the most prominent role in mainstreaming the conspiracy, has reshaped the network around his rhetoric.

The “great replacement” theory warns there is a nefarious plot to “replace” white citizens with nonwhite immigrants, which will ultimately threaten “the political power and culture of white people.” The theory purports that those responsible for the plot — Democrats, globalist elites, and in some variations, Jewish people — intentionally sanction an immigrant “invasion” of a white America to facilitate demographic changes under the unfounded belief that nonwhite immigrants will vote Democratic, thus entrenching political power.

The fabricated fear of “replacement” has led to horrific tragedies: the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia; the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh; the 2019 mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand; the 2019 El Paso, Texas, shooting; and most recently, the May 14 shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.

Here is a list of Fox hosts, anchors, correspondents, network contributors, and regular guests who have pushed the “great replacement” theory:

Jump to section...

  • Hosts and anchors

  • Julie Banderas

    After claiming that the great replacement theory had “nothing to do with” the Buffalo mass shooting because it targeted Black people, Banderas argued, “Democrats want illegals in this country because those are the ones that are eventually going to be voting them into office." [Fox News, MediaBuzz, 5/22/22]

  • Maria Bartiromo

    Bartiromo cited data from the anti-immigrant Center for Immigration Studies to emphasize the number of migrants who have come to the United States during Biden’s administration, comparing it to various city populations including Austin, Texas, and San Francisco. Bartiromo then expressed worry about the “impact on jobs, services, resources” caused by “more people coming into this country in terms of population” than entire cities. Her guest, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH), responded that the “massive demographic change” caused by “noncitizens” would “fundamentally remake America.” [Fox News, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 4/25/22]

  • Dan Bongino 

    Bongino claimed that liberals’ “long-term plan to stay in power” includes having a “class of people that need to rely on them” and said that naturalization for immigrants is a “strict power play to stay in power.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/22/21]

  • Tammy Bruce

    Bruce said that Democrats refuse to prioritize American citizens in their policies, claiming they “want to encourage the influx in” undocumented immigrants instead because “they imagine those individuals eventually voting.” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 1/29/19]

  • Rachel Campos-Duffy

    Campos-Duffy said it was “very obvious” that a recent surge in immigration “has a lot to do with a voter — an election play on the part of the Democrats.” Later in the segment, she boasted that the Biden administration’s ploy to open “up this border” and “get new citizens in” to “hold onto power that way by having these new citizens and diluting the votes of so many U.S. citizens” has failed. [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 12/18/21]

  • Tucker Carlson

    Carlson passionately endorsed replacement theory: “Now, I know that the left and all the little gatekeepers on Twitter become literally hysterical if you use the term ‘replacement,’ if you suggest that the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, the voters now casting ballots, with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World. But they become hysterical because that's what's happening, actually. Let's just say it: That's true.” [Fox News, Fox News Primetime, 4/8/21]

  • Neil Cavuto

    Cavuto floated the theory that the Biden administration and Democratic Party “like what’s happening” and encourage immigration because individuals coming across the border are “likely those more aligned to Democrats anyway.” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) refuted the claim, saying, “I don’t think that’s the case at all,” and noting that under U.S. law, most immigrants are “never going to be able to vote.” [Fox News, Your World with Neil Cavuto, 3/12/21]

  • Emily Compagno

    Compagno complained that Democrats wrote a New York City law that would “give away” voting rights to undocumented residents and refused to hear conservative concerns that it would “prevent” citizens from voting. [Fox News, Outnumbered, 12/8/21]

  • Steve Doocy 

    In response to guest Newt Gingrich suggesting that Biden’s “goal was to have the maximum number of illegal people in the United States,” Doocy said, “Perhaps that’s why they’re not calling it a crisis, because it’s working exactly as that is planned.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/12/21]

  • Sean Hannity

    Hannity complained about “Democrats giving away” citizenship while “other countries are selling it,” saying: “It's like a quid pro quo: We'll give you citizenship for free, we hope you vote Democrat.” Fox contributor Charles Hurt agreed, “Exactly. They're indentured voters.” [Fox News, Hannity, 10/14/21]

  • Laura Ingraham

    Ingraham fearmongered that Democrats “want to replace you, the American voters, with newly amnestied citizens and an ever-increasing number of chain migrants.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 10/16/18]

  • Brian Kilmeade

    Kilmeade said immigrants are “sneaking into the country” to have children and “change the trajectory of generations.” [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 10/30/18]

  • Mark Levin

    Levin promoted and endorsed replacement theory: “Why is the southern border open? … Obviously to import as many Democrats as they possibly can.” [Fox News, Hannity, 5/19/22]

  • Dagen McDowell

    McDowell said, “You see what is really happening here when you have illegal immigrants in New York City, hundreds of thousands that will now be allowed to vote in local elections. That’s the endgame. That’s why those illegal immigrants are being flown to places like Westchester County and even Florida. These are new voters for the left.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 12/14/21]

  • Jeanine Pirro

    Pirro told Fox Nation host Todd Starnes that immigration “is a plot to remake America, to replace American citizens with illegals who will vote for the Democrats.” [Fox Nation, The Todd Starnes Show, 8/29/19]

  • Carley Shimkus

    Shimkus claimed that the Biden administration looks at immigration as “a political opportunity, especially when it comes to Mexicans, because Mexicans typically vote Democrat.” [Fox News, The Big Sunday Show, 9/19/21]

  • Jesse Watters

    Watters claimed Democrats are “breaking the border on purpose” in an attempt to “turn Texas blue” and “to overwhelm the system in order to achieve more political power.” [Fox News, Fox News Primetime, 6/30/22]

  • Contributors

  • Sean Duffy

    Duffy said there was a “plan” among Democrats to “make all of these migrants legal citizens with voting rights” to “bring in new voters.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 4/14/22]

  • Ari Fleischer

    Fleischer claimed Democrats want to “put as many people into America as they possibly can” through immigration and give them “a pathway to citizenship. They think they’re going to be voters and lock in a Democratic majority.” [Fox News, Fox News Primetime, 11/5/21]

  • Newt Gingrich

    Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, said: “There are other places around the country where Democrats are advocating that they allow people who are not here legally or people who have not yet become citizens to vote. And I think they think — their calculus is that they have a harder time winning an election with law-abiding Americans. And so, the more people they can bring in who don't know American history, who don't understand the Constitution, aren't part of our traditional values, the better off their chances are.” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 7/26/18]

  • Tom Homan

    Former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homan said Democrats “perceive all these millions of people coming to the United States as future Democratic voters. They also want to fundamentally transform the composition of this country.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 4/19/22]

  • Tomi Lahren

    Lahren claimed “the plan” from Democrats is to bring in more migrants and “get these people voting.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 5/17/22]

  • Leo Terrell

    Terrell said, “The Democratic Party sees these [immigrants] as potential Democratic voters. That's the reason they are being allowed in. Let's be clear. These are the future Democratic voters. Chaos, criminals, people who are coming over here illegally, breaking the law.” [Fox News, Hannity, 1/31/22]

  • Lara Trump

    Trump suggested that the Biden administration wants “an open border” to commit election fraud using immigrants: “Maybe they think that they bring migrants over the southern border and, I don’t know, we don’t have any voter ID like they want. … To a lot of people, it's very suspicious that this is their way to win elections in the future, because if we had a free and fair election and every legal citizen got to vote, I think a lot of people are very disappointed with the policies of the Democrat Party, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris, and it would be very hard for them to win elections." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/29/21]

  • Guests

  • Former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

    Bachmann: “Joe Biden does not ask anyone illegally coming into our country for a vaccination card. And let's face it: This is the Democrats’ voter registration drive.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 1/28/22]

  • Ann Coulter

    Coulter, a white nationalist, claimed that Democrats “want to replace us” using immigration. [Fox News, Watters World, 5/19/18]

  • Ken Cuccinelli

    Cuccinelli, the former acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, claimed Biden was behind “a flood at the border, an invasion going on that he has inspired,” by floating the idea of “mass amnesty”: “You and I look down there, we see a crisis. They see a voter registration line.” [Fox News, Your World with Neil Cavuto, 4/29/21] 

  • Victor Davis Hanson

    Commentator Davis Hanson accused Democrats of being “unhappy with the present electorate” and allowing Afghan refugees and other migrants to “change the demography” of the country and “change the electorate” for the advantage of the Democratic agenda. [Fox News, Fox News Primetime, 9/22/21]

  • Brandon Judd

    Judd, the president of the National Border Patrol Council, said: “I believe that they’re trying to change the demographics of the electorate. That's what I believe that they're doing. They know — they want to stay in power and the only way to stay in power is to continue to get elected. They can't get elected on their policies because their policies are bad.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 4/4/22]

  • Charlie Kirk

    Kirk of Turning Point USA said Democrats were looking for “a new base, whether it be illegal aliens or people in prison,” after working class voters were “stolen from them by Donald Trump.” [Fox News, The Next Revolution, 6/23/19]

  • Lara Logan

    Former Fox Nation host Logan claimed that Democrats are trying to “change the demographics of this country” with immigration. [Fox News, Fox News Primetime, 8/13/21]

  • Stephen Miller

    Miller, a prominent white nationalist, said Afghan refugees are part of Democrats' plot to “change America”: “Those who are advocating mass Afghan resettlement in this country are doing so for political, not humanitarian reasons.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 8/17/21]

  • Matt Schlapp

    Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, claimed that Democrats view immigration “in their political interest … because they think that it pumps up the numbers with these voters who are going to be for them in the future.” [Fox News, Hannity, 8/13/21] 

  • Mark Steyn

    Agreeing with one of Carlson’s many defenses of the great replacement theory, Canadian author Steyn added that small states like Vermont were “basically being rendered irrelevant just by the sheer numbers coming over the border in the course of any one year.” [Fox News, Fox News Primetime, 4/8/21]

  • Guests who hold public office

  • Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott

    Abbott claimed the Biden administration is using “open border policies” to “redesign” the country through immigration. [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 10/28/21]

  • Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN)

    Banks said: “This is all intentional on the part of the Biden administration. … They want to flood the United States with cheap labor and they want to grant amnesty to all of these illegals that are coming into our country and turn them into Democrat voters. That’s their last great hope for keeping the majority in the midterm election.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 9/24/21]

  • Arizona Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich

    Brnovich said of immigration: “What we are seeing is an attempt by the left, and whoever’s talking in Joe Biden’s earpiece, to radically alter and change this country. They are essentially trying to socialize our economy, nationalize our election, and overwhelm our system and our neighborhood.” [Fox News, Hannity, 4/15/22]

  • Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR)

    Cotton warned that with rising immigration, “every American state is a border state, every American town is a border town, and they are all suffering because of Joe Biden's open border policies.” Anchor Harris Faulkner added, “The White House perhaps fashioning a new definition for the word ‘American’? That’s a question, we’ll talk about it another day.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 10/7/21]

  • Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX)

    Crenshaw said Democrats’ immigration policy “infringes on our national sovereignty” because they “believe that they might have a voter bloc from hundreds of thousands of new people coming across. That’s why they couple these bad enforcement policies with path-to-citizenship policies on the back end.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 9/21/21]

  • Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

    Cruz claimed, “The disaster at the southern border is not an accident, it’s by design. They [Democrats] are intending this disaster to unfold.” He went on, “They believe as a matter of crass partisan politics that if you let millions and millions of illegal aliens in, that many of them in future years will vote Democrat. And so they’re willing to overlook everything else.” [Fox News, Hannity, 11/16/21]

  • Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL)

    Gaetz: “For Nancy Pelosi, the crisis on the border isn’t an unintended consequence – it is the intended consequence because they want to be able to expand the franchise and have the illegal immigrants voting in our elections.” [Fox News, Hannity, 3/19/21]

  • Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX)

    Jackson said Democrats are allowing migrants into the country “because they think these people are going to come across and they’re going to get citizenship at some point or at least get the ability to vote and they’re determined that's going to happen and they’re going to get as many over here as they can." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 1/25/22]

  • Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)

    On Fox Business, Johnson claimed that Democrats “want to remake the demographics of America” so “they stay in power forever.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 4/15/21]

  • Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)

    Jordan accused Democrats of “trying to destroy every norm, precedent, and principle we have” in part by “trying to let illegal immigrants vote, and already doing that in some locales.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 1/3/22] 

  • Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT)

    In a discussion on Biden’s decision to end Title 42, Owens accused the Democratic Party of trying to “replace” American voters with migrants as part of a “strategy” to “tear down the walls, open the borders, hoping to get people here that have no idea what our culture is about, have no idea what our rule of laws is all about, that have no patriotism in our country – but they will vote Democrat if given enough freebies. [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 4/28/22]

  • Texas Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick

    Patrick: The Democrats' “plan is to bring in millions of people into this country illegally that they can give them a green card, citizenship, and throw them into voters so they can control the country.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino, 5/20/22]