Former Fox political editor Chris Stirewaltr says some of the network’s own hosts are at least partly to blame for the “panic” and outrage over the decision to call Arizona for Joe Biden in the 2020 election./Getty
By Kevin Stone | KTAR
Arizona’s “consequential” 2020 presidential election results, and how they were reported, were in the spotlight for part of Monday morning’s Jan. 6 committee hearing.
Fox News Channel was the first media outlet to call Arizona for Democrat Joe Biden on election night, setting off a firestorm at and around the conservative network.
Former Fox political editor Chris Stirewalt, whom the channel laid off about two months after the election, appeared before the committee to answer questions about how that call was made.
“We knew it [Arizona] would be a consequential call because it was one of five states that really mattered” in addition to swing states Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania, he said.
Stirewalt testified that Fox was working off different data and research than its competitors, which allowed the network to correctly call Arizona first. He said his decision team was unanimously in favor of making the call when it did.
