Fox News hosted members of Congress who objected to the certification of the 2020 presidential election at least 947 times in 2021.
On January 6, the day the Capitol was stormed by Trump supporters who had been encouraged by the former president’s unsubstantiated claims of wrongdoing in the election, 147 lawmakers objected to the Electoral College count certifying Joe Biden’s victory. According to Media Matters' internal database, Fox repeatedly hosted 73 of these lawmakers throughout the year on both its opinion and “news” programming, allowing them to make up a significant part of its coverage despite their support for unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud or a rigged election.
From the moment media outlets called the election for Biden, Fox hosts embarked on a campaign to undermine the results. In the two weeks after the network called the election in Biden’s favor, Fox cast doubt on the election results nearly 800 times, pushing misinformation and conspiracy theories. Across both the “news” and opinion sides, Fox personalities echoed and amplified Trump campaign’s claims about election fraud, which would ultimately be the driving force behind the January 6 riots.
From January 7 through December 21, Fox hosted 73 of the 147 people who objected to the electoral count at least 947 times on its weekday shows. The shows that hosted the most election deniers were Hannity with 179 appearances and Fox & Friends and The Ingraham Angle with 143 appearances each.
Here are the 10 members of Congress who objected to the certification with the most Fox appearances in 2021.
- Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH): 99 appearances
- Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA): 83 appearances
- Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL): 70 appearances
- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): 62 appearances
- Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO): 53 appearances
- Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA): 52 appearances
- Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA): 48 appearances
- Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN): 43 appearances
- Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL): 35 appearances
- Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL): 34 appearances
