Geraldo Rivera has been a media fixture for decades. He could parlay that notoriety into a political career — but not just yet.
Rivera announced that he will no longer be “pondering” the major career change of running for Senate, the Daily Caller reported. Although he was mulling a run to replace retiring Republican Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, Rivera reportedly reconsidered after Fox told him to “pick a lane.”
The Fox News correspondent had previously announced his plans in a Wednesday tweet. However, just days later, he told co-host Steve Doocy that he reconsidered after the network “freaked out” and that he decided to give it more thought.
Pondering running for retiring @senrobportman seat in United States Senate. #GoBuckeyes
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) March 10, 2021
“Well you know what happens? You wake up, you have a dream and the thing is you probably should keep your dream to yourself,” Rivera said. “Instead I started talking to Erica [Rivera’s wife] about it, we both got very enthusiastic. We really do think that I’m a moderate Republican. We can do something in a state like Ohio,” he said.
“The reaction, the initial vibe was great but it was also much more overwhelming than I ever expected,” Rivera went on, “Fox freaked out, you know, said pick a lane, are you a journalist or a politician and I wasn’t ready to, you know, jump off my current turn-style, so, instead I had to kind of embarrass myself and say never mind.”
In January, Rivera publicly lamented he thought the country was “increasingly polarized” and that “members of both parties are being pushed further to the right and further to the left, and that means too few people who are actively looking to find common ground,” he said, according to The Hill. “This is not a new phenomenon, of course, but a problem that has gotten worse over the past few decades.”
Rivera was also an avid supporter of former President Donald Trump but turned against him in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, accusing him of acting “like an entitled frat boy.” He joined calls for Trump’s impeachment after the Jan. 6 incursion at the U.S. Capitol and blamed the former president’s refusal to accept election results. “It revealed the disfunction in him that I had refused to see,” Rivera commented.
There’s a kernel of truth to Rivera’s assessment of the state of American politics. However, the journalist best known for the spectacular letdown that happened when he opened Al Capone’s vault on live television only to find it empty should just “pick a lane.” While it is possible to make the leap from media into politics, it may not suit Rivera as he still lives in the shadow of his previous unserious and sensationalist antics.
30 Responses
Good riddance
If he did run as a Republican I am sure he would be just another RINO and fall right in line with the Democrats.
exactly, and he is already way too controversial.
He is a very washy washy person a liberal for sure…
Who in the world would vote for that wishy washy twitt …. I wish he would leave and go back to Puerto Rico and stay there… cannot stand him
GOOD. I never have liked him. He is more for illegals then he is for the American people.
Exactly
Having heard some of his cute remarks Rivera is one so called republican I WILL NOT VOTE FOR!
He was just testing the waters.I wonder what this biased man thinks he can do for the people?
We don’t need another “glamorous” journalist/politician.
Bring back Bill O’Reilly.Let Geraldo go run for Termite inspector for Biden/Harris”s run.
this is ONE very Opinionated Liberal Disguised as a RINO. I wouldn’t vote for him if he was going to give me a life saving Heart.
he would get beat hands down and he knows it
Networks should tell Rivera to stuff it and get off the tube. He’s a nit, not worth watching. A 2 year old could do his job.
I’AM NOT VOTE FOR HIM .
Thank you for not running Geraldo
I think that somebody who should run for the House of Representatives, is a newcomer. Samuel Meachem of North Carolina. It is not moderate at all. And did support President Trump with a hefty donation for the 2020 election.
Just another democrat disguised as a Republican. We’ve got to many of those in office now that need to be replaced.
Far more in love with himself!! Too self important to serve any public office! We have too many of those already! It’s a big NO FOR ME
Yes, good to hear Rivera is not going to run. Also, I think Fox should quit using him on their programming, especially since his “views” are not that of us Republicans, and very frankly, he doesn’t seem to have fact-checking abilities but, instead, a very confused idea of where this Country is presently heading under the Dem. rule.
Nothing more than a soldier impersonator at best.Glad
he was not around when I and many others were in the Nam
getting into a mess with the NVA and he would have been
more concerned about how his hair looked.!Big mouth
narcissist and overrated over paid know it all.!!Just
another Juan Williams…
Welcome home Brother. When were you in Nam? I severed 7 years in the Marines, 1968-1975. 14 months in Nam as a Tunnel Rat, 1969-1970.
I’ve always thought that Geraldo was/is a very unstable, misguided person in more ways than one. I don’t know why he’s on Fox-he irritates me tremendously. He’s been on various airwaves long enough and needs to find himself another job. We’re done with him. Please terminate his contract ASAP.
AMEN!!!!
He was a lap dog for the Democratic party.
Geraldo Rivera,,,Would Be Just Another RINO! HE’S For Himself,,,Not The American People. We Remember You Geraldo!
Rivera, has never been a good at anything–I asked that he get lost a long time ago, even before Fox network. Rivera has never been a AMERICAN–HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN A CITIZEN TO SOME WHERE ELSE. NOT EVEN GOD–i THINK MAYBE THE DEVIL.
GERALDO RIVERA IS A TWO FACE IDIOT >NOT TO MANY PEOPLE IN OHIO WOULD VOTE FOR HIM>
HE IS Worse THAN PORTMAN>????? DOES HE LIVE IN OHIO?????>:
Well, Rivera at least figured Trump out which is more than any of you UnAmerican Digest sycophants have the brains to do.
Go to hell Alter —- you are a waste of time. — a peanut for a brain!