Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s presidential candidate town hall with Fox News beat out all three of CNN’s similar events with Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton, Pennsylvania Rep. Tim Ryan, and California Rep. Eric Swalwell that aired on Sunday.
The New York Democrat’s town hall, which aired at 7 p.m. EDT and was moderated by Chris Wallace, had an average of 834,000 viewers and 92,000 in the 25-54 age demographic. Her town hall had double the viewers than the other three candidates’ live events on CNN, according to early Nielsen Media Research.
- 6 p.m. EDT, Rep. Seth Moulton: 368,000 viewers and 92,000 in the 25-54 age demographic.
- 7 p.m. EDT, Rep. Tim Ryan: 374,000 viewers and 84,000 in the 25-54 age demographic.
- 8 p.m. EDT, Rep. Eric Swalwell: 401,000 viewers and 85,000 in the 25-54 age demographic.
While Gillibrand has more name recognition than the three congressmen, she only has been polling around or slightly above them. She has been polling an average of 0.2%, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls.
During the event, Gillibrand said the National Rifle Association was the “the worst organization in this country” for the “fear and division and hate” they have spread.
Choosing whether to attend a televised town hall on Fox News has split the more than 20 Democrats running for the nomination. South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s town hall with Fox News had more viewers than his town hall with CNN. Buttigieg had only just announced his exploratory committee when he had the town hall with CNN. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris have said they will not appear on the network.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was initially against a Fox News town hall but recently approached them to do one as he is one of the many candidates who are polling near the bottom of the group.
The Democratic National Committee has said they will not partner with Fox News to host a primary debate.
