Kamala Harris plans to sit for an interview with Fox News on Wednesday in her first appearance on the conservative-leaning network since she launched her presidential campaign in July.
The Democratic nominee will sit down with Fox anchor Bret Baier as her campaign presses a new strategy of reaching out to a much broader range of media outlets in the final days of the neck-and-neck White House race.
The Fox News interview will be taped Wednesday afternoon at an undisclosed location in the Philadelphia suburbs and will air at 6 p.m. Eastern time.
Baier is Fox News’ chief political anchor and one of the few prominent journalists at the network who isn’t known as a committed ideological conservative.
“(The) appearance marks her first formal sit-down interview on the network ever,” Fox News boasted in a statement announcing the big interview.
It noted that the right-leaning network regularly draws more Democrats and independent viewers than any other cable network during daytime hours.
The Harris sit-down follows two appearances on Fox News by vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz, who was picked by Harris in part for his ability to reach working class white male voters in the heartland, a key Fox-watching demographic.
After spending most of the first several weeks of her presidential campaign focused on campaign rallies and scripted events, Harris has launched a much more wide-ranging media blitz.
Since the start of last week, Harris has done a major interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes along with appearances on “The View,” Howard Stern’s radio show, the “Call Her Daddy” podcast and Stephen Colbert’s late night show.
She’s doing several interviews this week aimed at Black voters including an interview with the influential morning host Charlamagne Tha’ God.
Still, going on Fox marks the biggest shift yet in Harris’ strategy. She faces the risk of being harshly grilled in a way she rarely faces in mostly friendly sit-downs.
Democrats have long shown hostility toward Fox News. Hillary Clinton was the last Democratic presidential nominee to sit for a Fox interview, in 2016.
President Biden has not appeared on the network since taking office, though he has occasionally sparred at news conferences with its White House correspondents.
While Harris is trying to broaden her reach, Trump is sticking to his strategy of doing interviews almost exclusively with right-wing media outlets.
He snubbed the traditional 60 Minutes interview and has done almost no interviews with mainstream media outlets.
Trump has rejected Harris’ calls for a second presidential debate after he endured a poor performance in the first face-to-face clash on Sept. 10.
