Political Analyst Chris Stirewalt Joins Nexstar’s NewsNation

Chris Stirewalt, the former Fox News political analyst pushed out after the 2020 presidential election, has landed at NewsNation, reports The L-A Times.

The Nexstar Media Group-owned cable channel is announcing Tuesday that Stirewalt will serve as its political editor, the same title he held at Fox News.

Stirewalt will have a key role in the Chicago-based NewsNation’s expansion of its Washington coverage. Nexstar recently acquired the Hill, a digital political news outlet, and plans to use it as the basis of a new NewsNation program later this year.

“Chris is a fiercely intelligent and fair journalist who is going to deliver an enormous value to our viewers,” said Michael Corn, president of news programming for NewsNation.

Chris Stirewalt

The company also hired veteran columnist George Will as a contributor and recently entered a partnership with Decision Desk HQ, which will provide election and polling data and for the upcoming 2022 midterm primaries and general election.

When Stirewalt was fired from Fox News in Jan. 2021, he was told by the company that it was part of a restructuring. But his exit was largely seen as a response to the backlash the conservative-leaning outlet faced over its early call of Arizona for then-candidate Joe Biden on the night of the 2020 Presidential election.

Stirewalt was part of the election decision desk that projected the winner of Arizona and its 11 electoral votes for Biden just hours after the polls closed on election night. Donald Trump’s campaign protested the call — complaining directly to Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch.

Fox News never wavered on the call, which was confirmed by the other major networks nine days later. But it was widely believed inside Fox News that some loyal viewers abandoned the network in anger over the decision.

NewsNation was launched in 2020 with the intent of being an unbiased alternative to the increasing amount of opinion programming airing on established cable news networks such as Fox News, CNN and MSNBC.

Although its audience is slowly growing, NewsNation is challenged in attracting viewers. The channel has drama and comedy series repeats in many hours of the day due to leftover contractual obligations from its days as WGN America, a general entertainment network.