Trump, McSally Campaigns Call Out Fox News For Projecting Biden to Win Arizona
Campaign officials for President Donald Trump and Senator Martha McSally (R) were up in arms on Election Night after Fox News projected that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and Senate candidate Mark Kelly would win the state of Arizona.
[Fox News politics editor Chris Stirewalt defends network projecting a win for Joe Biden in Arizona]
The projection that Biden had carried the state — made first by Fox News — took anchor Bill Hemmer by surprise as he was breaking down the race, which prompted him to double check that the network’s Decision Desk officially called Arizona for Biden. Anchor Bret Baier followed up by calling it a “big get” for Biden, noting that Kelly is set to unseat McSally as senator.
Biden flipping Arizona poses a significant development in the 2020 race, but Fox’s assessment was met with protest from the GOP. Trump campaign official Jason Miller responded to the news by saying its “WAY to soon” to call Arizona, and that Fox is failing to account for votes yet to be counted.
WAY too soon to be calling Arizona…way too soon. We believe over 2/3 of those outstanding Election Day voters are going to be for Trump. Can’t believe Fox was so anxious to pull the trigger here after taking so long to call Florida. Wow.
— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) November 4, 2020
Fox News politics editor Chris Stirewalt as well as Decision Desk head Arnon Mishkin defended the call against blowback from the Trump camp.
“I’m sorry the president is not going to be able to takeover and win enough votes,” Mishkin said on air. “I’m sorry, we’re not wrong.”
McSally communications director Caroline Anderegg made a similar argument to Miller as she accused Fox of an “irresponsible” call.
This is absurd. There are more than 1 million votes to be counted with no Election Day votes yet reported. This call is irresponsible. https://t.co/m32aMHVViQ
— Caroline Anderegg (@cfanderegg) November 4, 2020
As of writing, not other outlet has projected a Biden win in Arizona.
Axios reporter Jonathan Swan wrote on Twitter that his sources at the White House and on the Trump campaign were enraged by the Fox News projection.
WH and Trump campaign sources furious at Fox right now over Arizona call
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) November 4, 2020
Watch above, via Fox News.
