MANCHESTER, NH – For more than 30 years Bret Baier has been reporting on politics for national audiences. He is host of Special Report with Bret Baier and serves as FOX News’ chief political correspondent. Next week, he hopes to engage with a local audience that knows its politics and field some lively political debate right here in Manchester when he takes the stage at The Palace Theatre for an evening of political discourse.
After starting his career as a local news correspondent, Baier was hired by FOX News based on his coverage of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. In the 20-plus years since then, Baier has established himself as one of FOX News network’s most stalwart correspondents and political news anchors, and despite the network’s conservative leanings, Baier continues to be a proponent of “passionate, meaningful debate of the issues,” according to a recent interview for Forbes.
“We don’t see these grand debates on the Senate floor that much anymore,” Baier said. “We don’t really hear the substantive discussions about what goes into legislation like we used to. I think some of the characters of the Senate have more of a sound bite or Twitter post kind of operation.”
To that end, in June Baier moderated a debate at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston, between Senators Bernie Sanders and Lindsey Graham, the first in a series of debates for a new Kennedy Center initiative called The Senate Project, The stated goal is “to reintroduce the culture of seeking common ground and consensus.”
In a political climate over the past several years that has featured heightened division and partisanship, Baier contends that a return to common goals and collaboration is needed now more than ever.
“I hope that it’s something that takes off as far as people wanting to do it, to be given that time to express where they really are,” Baier told Forbes.
And as this year’s hotly-contested mid-term elections here in New Hampshire continue to make local headlines, Baier scheduled a stop at the Palace Theatre on Oct. 15 for a moderated Q&A with local talk-radio personality Chris Ryan of WGIR. In addition to fielding audience questions, Baier will be sharing his experiences from his more than three decades following politicians from both sides of the aisle, the state of local and national journalism and his time at FOX News.
The event begins at 7:30 p.m. and includes a book signing afterward. Tickets range from $59-125 and are available online via this link.