Jan 31, 2019

Midterm losers and retired politicians sign on as political pundits

Former politicians John Kasich, Trey Gowdy, Andrew Gillum and Claire McCaskill. Photos: Getty Images

Fox News announced Wednesday it signed former Republican congressman Trey Gowdy of South Carolina as a contributor, adding to the slew of recently retired politicians making their TV debut in 2019.

Why it matters: TV news is giving its viewers some fresh faces ahead of 2020, and as Axios' Mike Allen noted Tuesday, some of the loudest political voices are becoming those who lost in the 2018 midterms.

The lineup:

Recently-departed Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Jeff Flake were snagged by CNN and CBS News, respectively. Both are Republican and unabashed critics of the Trump administration.
Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and former Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) recently joined NBC News and MSNBC as political contributors. Both McCaskill and Curbelo were beat in close elections.
CNN also announced Tuesday the network is adding former Democrat Andrew Gillum, who lost to Ron DeSantis in a highly-contested Florida gubernatorial race.
Earlier this month, former Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah) and retired Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) were also added onto CNN. Love lost to Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams by less than 1,000 votes.

Go deeper: Livid liberals try to bully Schultz out of 2020

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Axios

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

Global: Total confirmed cases as of 9 p.m. ET: 1,513,358 — Total deaths: 88,415 — Total recoveries: 329,329 — Map.
U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 9 p.m. ET: 430,376 — Total deaths: 14,739 — Total recoveries: 23,707 — Map.
Federal government latest: Top Trump administration officials had been developing a plan to give cloth masks to huge numbers of Americans, but the idea lost traction amid heavy internal skepticism.
States latest: New York has reported more cases than the most-affected countries in Europe. Chicago's Cook County jail is largest-known source of coronavirus in U.S.
Business: One-third of U.S. jobs are at risk of disappearing, mostly affecting low-income workers.
World: WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to put politics aside "if you don’t want to have many more body bags.”
Environment: COVID-19 is underscoring the connection between air pollution and dire outcomes from respiratory diseases.
Tech: A new report recommends stimulus spending to help close the digital divide revealed by social distancing.
What should I do? Pets, moving and personal health — Answers about the virus from Axios experts — What to know about social distancing — Q&A: Minimizing your coronavirus risk.
Other resources: CDC on how to avoid the virus, what to do if you get it.

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