Fox News has a new face on Sunday mornings. Larry Kudlow, whose afternoon show is the most-watched program on Fox Business Network, will host “Sunday Morning Futures” at 10 a.m.
The assignment is temporary. Kudlow will hold the chair through the weekend after the November 8 midterm elections, and Fox News Channel said it will name a permanent host at a later date.
The slot has belonged to Maria Bartiromo, who built the program around interviews connecting decisions in Washington to markets and the broader economy.
Republican lawmakers, administration officials and conservative policy debates became regular fixtures on the show.
Bartiromo has not been seen on Fox News or Fox Business since August 9, when she appeared on “Mornings with Maria,” Variety reported.
Fox has not said where she will appear next or when she might return to the air.
Her attorney, Bryan Freedman, said she remains employed by Fox News Media.
The network has not publicly explained why she has been absent, and weeks of speculation have followed.
Variety also reported that an unnamed source believes Bartiromo passed a confidential Fox Business directive to the White House.
The report said the directive gave executive producers guidance on covering Trump’s public remarks.
The report rests on that one unnamed source. No public finding has been issued against Bartiromo, and neither the report nor her absence shows that Fox News Media fired her.
Kudlow arrives with a long record in government.
He served as director of the National Economic Council during Trump’s first administration and worked as the president’s top economic adviser.
His advisory work reaches back further. He counseled President Ronald Reagan and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman on economic matters, and he held senior roles in finance.
Kudlow joined Fox Business Network in 2021. Before that, he spent years at CNBC, pairing Wall Street analysis with his views on economic policy.
Jim Cramer, the former hedge fund manager turned television fixture, often shared the screen with him there.
On Fox Business, Kudlow’s afternoon show has hosted Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Elon Musk and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
His television work has centered on tax policy, government spending, regulation and markets, along with the way Washington’s choices affect each of them.
In a 2021 interview with Variety, Kudlow described his approach to taxes and earnings. “I like people to be able to spend their own money,” he told the publication. He added that he wants people to have as much freedom as possible.
The timing puts him in front of a Sunday audience during the closing weeks of the midterm campaign.
Candidates and elected officials are competing for airtime while voters decide which party controls Congress.
Fox has confirmed one change for viewers: Kudlow now occupies Bartiromo’s longtime time slot.
Variety reported that the network has not said who will host the program once his interim run ends after the election weekend.
