Overview
- On Thursday, Sean Hannity abruptly ended his Fox News interview with Bill de Blasio after de Blasio rejected the host’s line of attack on Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson.
- De Blasio defended Jackson on-air, calling him “your worst nightmare politically” and predicting Jackson would win the race, which prompted Hannity to interrupt and say, “I gotta go.”
- Recent reporting cited a newly surfaced police report about a fight when Jackson was 19 and a 2021 episode in which he threw a half-empty water bottle during an argument with then-state Sen. Heather Sanborn.
- Jackson has said he took responsibility for the decades-old fight and previously apologized for the 2021 bottle incident, while witnesses told reporters the bottle did not hit anyone though Sanborn left shaken.
- The exchange drew swift criticism on social media over Hannity’s interview tactics, revived scrutiny of Jackson after he replaced Graham Platner on the July ballot, and could shape both campaign messaging and how cable hosts handle hostile exchanges.