During a dynamic exchange on Tuesday night, Sean Hannity seemed to dismiss the credibility of his own network’s polling data while interviewing Bill de Blasio, the former mayor of New York known for his far-left views.
Hannity, now 64, expressed skepticism regarding a July 30 poll that appeared to give a slight lead to a progressive Texas Senate contender over Republican Ken Paxton. He remarked on his primetime broadcast that he couldn’t take the poll results seriously, even for a moment.
Currently, Congressman James Talarico from the Austin area is engaged in a heated battle against Paxton, as the campaign intensifies on both sides.
As Hannity criticized the stance of Democratic socialists, de Blasio, 65, interjected with a query about the Fox News poll. This came after Hannity pointedly brought up Talarico’s previous remarks on topics like gender and religion.
Hannity initiated his critique by asking, “Do you really think ‘Six-Gender Talarico,’ who holds the belief that God is non-binary, supports biological men in women’s sports, and advocates for their access to abortion…”
He was almost immediately interrupted by de Blasio, who flagged the poll putting Talarico ahead by three percentage points.
‘Did you read your own poll today where Talarico is beating Paxton?’ the former mayor asked, causing Hannity to express hesitance.
Talarico, meanwhile, is not a Democratic socialist.
Hannity, 64, said he ‘didn’t believe’ a July 30 poll from the outfit that put Texas Senate candidate slightly in front of Republican Ken Paxton ‘for two seconds’ on his primetime show, where he was joined by former New York Mayor and Defund the Police supporter Bill De Blasio
Austin-area Congressman James Talarico – seen here on The View this past February – is competing in a close race. Hannity brought up Talarico while criticizing Democratic socialists
Hannity continued the conversation by bringing up another Democrat who is not, oyster farmer-turned-Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner.
Platner called off his campaign last month in the wake of rape allegations that he denies and having a tattoo recognized as a Nazi SS symbol earlier this year – things Hannity was sure to point out.
De Blasio countered that people like Talarico were at least gaining momentum for touting ‘common-sense, kitchen-table issues,’ in contrast to people like Paxton.
‘This is the worst nightmare for Republicans, if Democrats get their act together and talk about the kitchen table,’ de Blasio asserted, referring to the prospective lay of the land in 2028.
Hannity, one of Fox News’ original cohosts circa 1996, was still not convinced.
He pointed out how progressives like James Carville, Bill Maher and John Fetterman have expressed frustrations with their party over more radical candidates and policies.
Hannity said pushback from those early advocates was tantamount to ‘a canary in the coal mine.’
‘Nope,’ de Blasio answered, as the two talked over each other. ‘You’re going to see whole generations of young voters. Young voters are gonna change these elections. You’re gonna be surprised, and they’re gonna be with the Democrats.’
Talarico’s opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is considered a hardline conservative. The Fox poll put him three percentage points behind Talarico, despite his years of experience
Both men were so convinced in their correctness that they repeatedly proposed making ‘a bet.’
Talarico, 37, turned heads in 2021 during committee debate on a bill regarding transgender student athlete bans by saying that ‘modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes – in fact, there are six.’
He also claimed ‘God is non-binary’ during the same speech.
He appeared to walk back the latter during a May interview with ABC Live, saying it was ‘meant to be deliberately provocative.’
“Ken Paxton is clipping my past cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption,” he said at the time.
He also said that he believes ‘you can’t use human categories to define God.’ He added that Republicans were seizing on the comments ‘to try and distract from the corrupt system that Ken Paxton embodies.’
The Texas Senate race has commanded national attention, largely due to the pair’s differing political views. Paxton, Texas’s attorney general for a decade, is a hardline conservative.
His campaign website warns the ‘election will determine whether Texas remains the conservative stronghold that leads America or becomes another state controlled by the radical left.’