One cable TV news host who once served in Congress as a Florida Republican is Joe Scarborough. Scarborough was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 1st congressional district from 1995 to 2001. After leaving Congress, he became a cable news host and is currently the co-host of MSNBC's morning show, "Morning Joe," which he has hosted since 2007.
Scarborough was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1963. He attended the University of Alabama, where he earned a bachelor's degree in history. After college, he worked as a lawyer in Florida before entering politics. In 1994, he ran for Congress as a Republican and won, representing Florida's 1st congressional district, which includes the panhandle region of the state.
During his time in Congress, Scarborough was known as a conservative and was a member of the Republican Study Committee, a group of House Republicans who advocate for conservative policies. He was also a member of the Judiciary Committee and the Armed Services Committee.
One of Scarborough's most notable moments in Congress came in 1998, when he was one of the leaders of the effort to impeach President Bill Clinton. Scarborough was a vocal supporter of impeaching Clinton and argued that the president had committed perjury and obstructed justice in relation to the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Scarborough's time in Congress was not without controversy. In 2001, he announced that he would not seek reelection and would instead leave politics to spend more time with his family. However, just a few months later, he resigned from Congress altogether, citing personal reasons.
After leaving Congress, Scarborough became a cable news host, first at MSNBC and later at Fox News. He also worked as a radio host and a columnist for The Washington Post. In 2007, he returned to MSNBC to co-host "Morning Joe," a morning news and talk show that has become one of the most popular cable news programs in the United States.
"Morning Joe" is known for its lively discussions of politics and current events, and Scarborough has become a vocal critic of the Republican Party in recent years. He has criticized President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders for their handling of various issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
Despite his shift away from the Republican Party, Scarborough remains a controversial figure in some circles. He has been accused of promoting conspiracy theories and spreading false information, particularly in relation to the death of former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich. In 2017, he and his co-hosts were forced to retract a story that claimed that Rich's death was connected to the hacking of Democratic Party emails during the 2016 presidential election.
Overall, Joe Scarborough's career has been marked by his transition from a conservative Republican congressman to a cable news host who is willing to criticize his former party. While he remains a divisive figure in some circles, his influence on the cable news landscape is undeniable, and his show remains a popular source of political news and analysis for many Americans.