California Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris scored the second highest-rated town hall of 2019 with her hour-long event on MSNBC this week.
Harris appeared on a special edition of The Last Word Tuesday night, a town hall moderated by host Lawrence O’Donnell. According to Nielsen ratings data provided by NBC, the event drew 2.209 million total viewers, including 309,000 in the key advertiser demographic.
That total viewership was greater than that of all of CNN’s 21 Democratic town halls in 2019, and bested all but one of Fox News’ Democratic town halls.
Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders landed almost 2.6 million viewers for Fox News during his April town hall. But Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg each drew fewer viewers than Harris in their respective Fox News town halls.
Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have agreed to Fox News town halls in the weeks ahead.
Harris was also the top ratings draw during CNN’s night of five town hall
In that same time slot Tuesday, CNN Tonight attracted 919,000 total viewers and 261,000 in the demo, while Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle won the slot with 2,435,000 total viewers and 374,000 in the demo.
While other candidates have gobbled up media attention, Harris has still managed to develop a head of steam by campaigning in early primary states, where she is tied for second place with Sanders.
Harris, along with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), has decided not to appear at any Fox News town halls, setting them apart from Klobuchar, Sanders, Buttigieg, Castro, and Gillibrand.