Pete Buttigieg to appear in Fox News town hall

Fox News will host a town hall with former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg on Jan. 26 from Des Moines, Iowa.

The town hall, which will be moderated by “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace, comes one week before the Iowa caucuses.

“We are pleased to host Mayor Buttigieg for the second time this election cycle for a timely town hall in the influential state of Iowa,” said Jay Wallace, president and executive editor of Fox News Media, in a statement. “Once again, we are looking forward to providing our millions of viewers with an insightful discussion ahead of the first major contest of the primary season.”

Buttigieg, 37, currently sits in fourth place among Democratic candidates in the RealClearPolitics average of polls, with 7.7 percent support nationwide.

But polls in Iowa show a much tighter race in the Hawkeye state, according to the site, with Buttigieg in a statistical dead heat for first place with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden.

The event is the seventh town hall event Fox News has hosted during the 2019-2020 election season.

Other 2020 Democratic hopefuls who have appeared on the network include Sanders, whose town hall was the most watched of any candidate this election cycle with 2.5 million viewers tuning in to the event in April.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), as well as dropped-out candidates Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, also appeared on the network.