As ABC News’ The View headed into their Spring Break this week, they kicked off the important midterm election year (2026) with a parade of liberal guests espousing their view points. A Media Research Center study documenting which political views The View allowed to be expressed on the show discovered that 27 guests delivered liberal view points versus only one conservative.
What made the breakdown particularly troublesome for The View was the recent scrutiny they found themselves under from the Federal Communications Commission, which was looking to possibly enforce the ‘equal time’ requirement for political candidates. Of the nine politicians who were guests on The View, five of them were announced candidates when they appeared on the show. One more would announce their reelection not long after.
Of the 27 guests to share liberal views, 8 of them were Democratic politicians (in chronological order): Representative Jasmine Crockett (TX), Representative Jim Clyburn (SC), New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (NY), Governor Josh Shapiro (PA), State Representative James Talarico (TX), Governor Andy Beshear (KY), Senator Cory Booker (NJ), and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (IL).
At the time of their appearance, Crockett (1/6), Shapiro (1/27), Talarico (2/2), and Booker (3/23) were all declared political candidates for office. Crockett and Talarico’s appearances were what caught the attention of FCC Chairman Brandon Carr since they were within the 45-day window for the equal time rule. Nearly two months after his January 19 appearance on The View, Clyburn announced his reelection bid.
Other liberal guests included U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Don Lemon, Chelsea Handler, Amber Ruffin. Also included was former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), who was brought on to attack President Trump and Republican leadership. The View cast even tried to recruit her to be a Democrat.
On the Republican side, the only guest they welcomed was actor Spencer Pratt (1/28), who was running to be the mayor of Los Angeles in response to the city’s failings during the Palisades Fire. Argument could be made that he deserves an asterisk.
Largely there to push his book about the fires, Pratt’s candidacy was only mentioned near the end of the segment. But when broaching the subject, co-host Sunny Hostin made sure to note that when he was running on the Republican ticket, he didn’t want to the viewed that way:
You are going to do so much, I think, for your community because a few weeks ago you announced that you're running to be the next mayor of Los Angeles. You're a registered Republican, but you’ve said this is not a partisan race and that there won't be a "D" or "R" next to your name. You don't have political experience, but you want to make a change.
There were 13 other candidates in Pratt’s race, including Democratic incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. That race’s primary election is on June 2.
Not included in the count were the co-hosts who filled in for co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin while she was out on maternity leave. Their role there was co-host, not guest.
In total, The View had 97 guests between January 5, when they returned from their winter break, to April 2, when they went on their spring break. You can see the list of political guests here.
The View faced public controversy over their lack of conservative guests in 2025.
Last year, co-host Joy Behar claimed that Republicans wouldn’t go on the show because “they’re afraid of us.” Which led to a slew of prominent conservative influencers, journalists (including NewsBusters), and politicians coming forward with evidence of the show either rejecting or ignoring their appearance requests (including people they had on previously).
The View cast responded on their Behind the Table podcast by suggesting most conservatives didn’t live up to the “certain caliber of guest” they felt the show demanded. Behar claimed that those reaching out were essentially just nobodies with small businesses and no influence in the party, which was just not true.
In 2026, the week before they went on vacation, The View lashed out at conservative activist and podcaster Isabel Brown for encouraging women to get married and have kids during a CPAC panel. Brown reached out to The View and requested an appearance, they refused. The View claimed they were all booked up for weeks but NewsBusters discovered that was a lie.
Farah Griffin, one of the token Republicans on the panel who largely rolled over for her co-hosts’ more ridiculous claims, basically admitted on their podcast that they didn’t want guests who would actually push back, creating a viral moment that would embarrass them.
Methodology: For a guest to be counted as either liberal or conservative, they needed to express such views during their appearance on The View. If a celebrity did not discuss politics, they were not included in the count of political leanings even if they had a history of being outspoken in the past.
