While on the campaign trail at a town hall in Burlington, Iowa, Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang touted his bipartisan appeal and also offered some criticism for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for how the governing body has been handling the party’s debates.
“So my administration will be able to draw people in from both sides of the aisle,” he said, via CBS News on Twitter . “I’m non-ideological. I’m very data-driven and solution-oriented, and people sense that.”
He continued to say that he believes Democrats should go on Fox News and talk to Americans via the right-wing channel, suggesting that winning elections requires openness to speak to the entire population of the United States.
“And this is something I would say as critical of the DNC. You know these DNC debates that have been going on, you’ve probably caught them by accident.”
Yang noted that Fox News requested to host a DNC debate, but the committee turned them down. According to Yang, their decision led to a missed opportunity.
“I was like, ‘What are you doing?’” he said.
Yang’s sentiments are similar to those expressed by fellow Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, who has faced criticism for appearing on Fox News. During an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience back in November, the Hawaii congresswoman suggested that such appearances are necessary to communicate with Americans across the country.
“I have a platform to be able to speak to millions of people across the country about the kind of leadership I bring in the area of foreign policy,” she said.
“Tens of millions of our fellow Americans decided to take a bet on a narcissist reality TV star, this is not business as usual.” @AndrewYang holds a town hall in Burlington, IA. pic.twitter.com/a9m9UTjvhT
— The Hill (@thehill) January 24, 2020
Presidential candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has also appeared on Fox News for a successful town hall that was viewed by more than 2.5 million viewers. Not long after, Pete Buttigieg was on the network for his own town hall. Before the event, he suggested that ignoring the network and its viewers is a missed opportunity to connect with those that don’t share their worldview.
Conversely, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has publicly said she would not appear on Fox News, calling it a “hate-for-profit racket.”
Yang has clashed with the DNC on multiple occasions. Most recently, he called out the governing body before the January debate and said he should be on the stage, The Hill reported. He was critical of the lack of polls conducted since the December debate, pointing in particular to the early states where many candidates have focused their time.
The Yang campaign also commissioned two of their own polls that put the candidate at 5 percent support, which was the minimum polling threshold for the debate that he ultimately missed.
