The network takes its annual fan event outside New York for the first time as Texas’ Senate race draws national attention.
By Lilly Kersh
Dallas Morning News
https://www.dallasnews.com/
MS NOW is back in the White House — and headed back to Texas, where its marquee Senate race is giving Rachel Maddow, Jen Psaki, Lawrence O’Donnell and other hosts plenty to talk about.
The network formerly known as MSNBC held its third annual fan gathering Saturday at the University of Texas at Arlington’s College Park Center. It’s the event’s first time outside the New York area.
“Texas is at the center of the political conversation this year,” Psaki, former White House press secretary under President Joe Biden, told The Dallas Morning News.
The all-day live community affair comes after President Donald Trump barred MS NOW, CNN and Politico from the White House over coverage he disliked. A judge temporarily lifted the ban Thursday, allowing reporters from all three outlets to return.
Psaki said the press’ fight over access underscored the importance of the network’s reporting and its commitment to continue “no matter how people try to push back on our efforts.”
Lauren Peikoff, executive producer of MS NOW Live, said the network’s goal “will always be reporting without fear or favor.”
“We continue to cover and report the news, no matter the circumstance,” she said.
MS NOW: Together in Texas will seek to bring audiences into the conversation on national debates over voting rights, immigration, education and the economy, with Texas at the center of the discussion on Saturday.
Everything is bigger in Texas, Peikoff said — “including the conversations shaping our collective futures.”
Just two weeks ago, Trump headlined a convention-style rally in Dallas that featured Republican candidates and sought to fire up voters ahead of the midterm election.
MS NOW, popular among Democrats, is looking for its reporters and anchors to “highlight the power of democracy and community” through in-person, two-way conversation with the Texas audience — discussions that will inform programming after the event, Peikoff said.
Psaki said she is “energized about being in the middle of a community that is living one of the most interesting political stories of this year.”
MS NOW’s gathering in Arlington gets close to the home of “one of the most hotly contested Senate races of this election season,” according to an announcement by the network.
Democratic state Rep. James Talarico and Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton are locked in a contentious Senate campaign, one of several that could determine party control in Washington.
The network recently launched a membership service and hosted its first members lounge event earlier this month in Dallas while Trump led the Republican midterm convention nearby.
“The fact that we are doing two events in a short period of time tells you everything you need to know about how central Texas is in this year, in this moment,” Psaki said.
The Dallas pop-up earlier this month was “part of our effort as a network to not just be having conversations through a television screen,” Psaki said, “but really to show up in communities.”
Psaki said she hopes the event helps people find community with others who share their values “in this moment of standing up for democracy, of freedom of press.”
The program schedule included appearances by Maddow, Psaki, Stephanie Ruhle, Ali Velshi, Ari Melber, Chris Hayes, Symone Sanders Townsend, Alicia Menendez, Jacob Soboroff, Eugene Daniels, Michael Steele, Luke Russert and the Rev. Al Sharpton, according to a news release.
Collin County Reporter
Lilly Kersh is a local government accountability reporter at The Dallas Morning News covering Collin County with a focus on McKinney and Plano. She graduated in 2024 from the University of Georgia with a degree in journalism and was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia.
