Defeated Pennsylvania Senate candidate Kathy Barnette has placed blame for her third-place finish in Tuesday’s Republican primary squarely on the shoulders of Fox News host Sean Hannity.
In a video posted to her Twitter account early on Wednesday morning, Ms Barnette thanked her supporters, but pivoted to attacking the Fox commentator.
“I do want to say: never forget what Sean Hannity did in this race. Almost single-handedly, Sean Hannity sowed seeds of disinformation, flat-out lies every night for the past five days. And that was just extremely hard to overcome, apparently”.
Ms Barnette’s grievance with Hannity stems from his decision to call attention to inconsistencies in her background in the days leading up to the 17 May primary.
On 12 May, Hannity noted that Ms Barnette was surging in polls on the heels of what many pundits said was a breakout performance at the last Pennsylvania GOP primary debate.
At the time, he called her “a very impressive person” with “an incredible life story,” but said she had not undergone any manner of “rigorous vetting”.
“Let me put it very simply here. I don't see any scenario where Kathy Barnette can win a general election in Pennsylvania,” he said.
And on the Monday edition of his programme, he played a series of flips from Ms Barnette’s appearance on Fox News Sunday in which she could not answer questions regarding claims she made to have been an adjunct college professor, nor could she explain tweets she’d posted containing Islamophobic statements during the years when Barack Obama was president.
He also pointed out for his overwhelmingly Republican viewers that Ms Barnette had once advocated for a statue of Mr Obama to be erected in Washington in honour of his service as the country’s first Black president.
By contrast, he enthusiastically endorsed the candidate who appears to have won the race (which has not officially been called), former TV doctor turned Covid-19 contrarian Mehmet Oz.
Mr Oz, a newcomer to politics who was also endorsed by former president Donald Trump, credited Hannity with helping him in his first campaign.
Speaking at an election night event in front of supporters, Mr Oz praised the Fox host and credited him for giving him strategic counsel.
“I want to thank Sean Hannity… he understands how to make a difference and he’s been doing that this entire campaign.. much of it behind the scenes… giving me advice on late night conversations,” he said.
