Julián Castro’s Fox News Town Hall: Live Updates

For candidates who have participated in Fox News town halls, the setting has provided them an occasion to promote their campaigns on a network that often tops cable news ratings.

It has also afforded some of them a sizzling, quasi-viral moment or two. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, for instance, who participated in a Fox News town-hall event this month, drew attention after sharply criticizing the network during her event. She has since turned the heated exchange into a fund-raising and branding opportunity.

Will Mr. Castro use the town hall to muster some attention to his own languishing campaign?

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Whether to participate in town-hall events on the Rupert Murdoch-controlled network — and President Trump’s favorite channel — has become one of the big questions for Democratic candidates this cycle, who are deciding between courting their base or expanding their potential reach. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, for example, has earned plaudits from liberals — reflected in a boost in polls — for pointedly boycotting Fox News last month.

The issue is particularly fraught because the Democratic National Committee chairman, Tom Perez, excluded the channel from hosting any of the party’s formal primary debates.

Will Fox News, known for its aggressive rightward tilt, keep the questioning down the middle? Will Mr. Castro, who needs as much exposure as he can get at this point, be able to have any kind of impact on Fox News’s huge audience?

Many of the Democratic candidates have begun tacitly criticizing former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the leader in most polls, though most candidates so far have been loathe to go after him by name. On Thursday, however, former Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas lobbed a rare direct attack at Mr. Biden on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” calling him a “return to the past” and accusing him of flip-flopping on issues.

Will Mr. Castro, who was housing secretary under the Obama administration, take the opportunity to similarly attack Mr. Biden or go after any other candidates by name?

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