All 538 members of the Electoral College cast their ballots for president yesterday, affirming President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris‘ 2020 election win.
Newsmax TV was one of the very few media outlets that had still yet to call the 2020 election for the Biden-Harris ticket up until today, a decision that made the outlet quite popular with President Trump and his most diehard supporters. Its no coincidence that Newsmax has seen its ratings skyrocket in recent weeks (although it had seen ratings growth leading up to the election as well).
However, the network told us Tuesday that it would now be referring to Joe Biden as “President-elect Joe Biden.”
“As a result of the Electoral College vote Joe Biden is the president-elect and will be referred to as such on Newsmax,” a Newsmax spokesperson told TVNewser. “We also recognize President Trump continues to contest the results and we will cover aspects of that news story.”
This statement is in line with what Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy told Adweek in an interview last month—that his network would indeed call the election once all of the votes were certified. “I believe as the states certify, we will project those states for the winner, and the electoral college will confirm that,” he said. “We will make an appropriate call based on those certifications.”
After a remarkable run, will Newsmax’s ratings return to Earth now that the network is formally recognizing Biden as the true winner of the election? Remains to be seen.