Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has been a thorn in the sides of his fellow Senate Democrats – and that has reportedly made him a favorite among Fox News executives.
The West Virginia senator frequently appears on the network to issue warnings about the federal deficit and other topics at odds with the Democratic majority but in line with the conservative network's viewership, and The Intercept reported that his campaign's July filing with the Federal Election Commission shows Fox News executives and lawyers had rewarded him with tens of thousands of dollars.
“A lot of donations are part of the buddy network," said Stan Oklobdzija, a political science professor at Tulane University. "The world of extremely rich and influential people in the United States is kind of small. Manchin has been around on the Hill for a long time, he’s a known commodity. These donors probably come across Manchin, they like him, they see him as reliable, and want to keep him in office.”
Manchin hadn't previously received donations from anybody associated with Fox since 2018, when he got money from James Murdoch, son of Fox Corporation chair Rupert Murdoch.
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A spokesperson for the network pointed The Intercept to the company's policy on political activities. “FOXPAC supports candidates on both sides of the aisle,” said Fox News spokesperson Irena Briganti.
The donations came from executives all across the corporation's holdings, including $3,300 from Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernathy, and $6,600 donations from both Fox senior vice president for digital policy and strategy Adrian Farley and Jamie Gillespie, Fox Corporation’s executive vice president of government relations.
Fox Corporation attorneys – including deputy general counsel and executive vice president Elizabeth Casey and Joe Di Scipio, senior vice president and assistant general counsel – gave a combined $11,350 to the Democratic senator, and the Fox Corporation political action committee gave $8,500 to Manchin.
Machin received a total of $43,150 from executives and attorneys who work for Fox companies, according to his most recent FEC filing.
