Getty Fox News anchor and moderator Chris Wallace asks the candidates a question during the third U.S. presidential debate at the Thomas & Mack Center on October 19, 2016, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Chris Wallace is the moderator for the first 2020 Presidential Debate, as President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden face off for the first time. But is Wallace a Democrat or a Republican? What are his political beliefs?
Chris Wallace Is a Registered Democrat, but He Said It Was for Pragmatic Reasons
According to the District of Columbia Board of Elections Voter Registration Status, Wallace is a registered Democrat. He registered back in 1984 under the full name Christopher Wallace.
D.C. Board of ElectionsD.C. Board of Elections record.
In 2006, The Washington Post reported that Wallace had been a registered Democrat for more than two decades. Wallace had been asked by a Fox anchor in 2006 what his political party was and he answered: “None of your business.”
But when The Washington Post approached him, Wallace said he was a registered Democrat for pragmatic reasons. He said: “The reason I’m a registered Democrat is that in Washington, D.C., there is really only one party. If you want a say in who’s going to be the next mayor or councilman, you have to vote in the Democratic primary.”
Wallace’s political leanings, whatever they truly are, don’t seem to impact his reporting. In 2006, The Washington Post reported that Bill Clinton thought Wallace was too conservative after he asked him tough questions about Osama bin Laden. Wallace himself has said his political leanings don’t impact how he reports the news.
His choice of debate topics for tonight bothered both sides of the political aisle. Liberals questioned his choice of a topic called “race and violence in our cities,” The Washington Post reported. Columnist Margaret Sullivan said it was “flat out wrong” for Wallace not to include climate change in the first debate but to choose “race and violence” instead.
Trump, meanwhile, complained that Wallace was “controlled by the radical left,” The Hill reported. Trump said he didn’t believe Wallace would ask Biden any tough questions and said the debate wouldn’t be fair. Perhaps this is because Wallace told Trump in an interview that he took the same cognitive test that Trump passed and commented that it wasn’t very hard, BBC reported.
Wallace Says He Has Voted for People in Both Parties
In 2006, The Washington Post reported that Wallace said he’s voted for both Democrats and Republicans in the past.
Although a registered Democrat, Wallace is currently the host of Fox News Sunday. In fact, The Los Angeles Times reported that Wallace prides himself on irritating both sides. Wallace has previously worked with NBC and ABC.
Wallace moderated the third debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016, and people on both sides said he did a good job. At the time, a columnist for The Washington Post said he was “among the best in the business,” and Democrat Howard Dean said he was “tough and he was right down the middle fair,” BBC reported.
Although he’s an anchor for Fox News Sunday, Wallace tends to be tough and even-handed, BBC reported. Before the 2016 debate, Wallace said about his job: “This is not a TV show. This is part of civics, the constitution, if you will, in action, because this is helping millions of people decide who we’re going to elect as the next president.”
Wallace is equally disliked and admired by both sides. Former President Barack Obama wouldn’t appear on his program for eight years, The New York Times reported, while Trump has referred to him as “nasty and obnoxious.”
Wallace has both spoken out against Trump for assaulting the “freedom of the press” and spoken out against other journalists for showing a bias against Trump. He seems to work hard to keep bias out of what he does.
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