Late-Night Jokes Skew Heavily Republican in Senate Race Coverage, Study Finds
An analysis of late-night television shows revealed that 87% of jokes targeting U.S. Senate candidates were directed at Republicans.
Late-night television shows have continued to feature a strong lean toward Republican targets in their humor regarding U.S. Senate candidates, according to a recent analysis. From September 8 to Friday, 45 out of 52 jokes about Senate races on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers” were aimed at Republican candidates.
Only seven jokes in the same period targeted Democratic candidates. The study, conducted by the Media Research Center, found that specific Republican candidates were frequent punchlines. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, running for the U.S. Senate, was the subject of 14 jokes. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who is facing Democratic challenger Troy Jackson, was targeted in nine jokes, and Michigan Republican Mike Rogers, who is running against Abdul El-Sayed, was the focus of six jokes.
One instance cited was from “The Daily Show” on September 10, where comedian Michael Kosta joked about Paxton, stating, “Are they really running this charisma black-hole in one of the most important Senate races in the country?” The analysis did not include jokes about President Donald Trump, who remains a frequent target of late-night comedy.
This trend follows previous findings from the Media Research Center. A report from 2025 indicated that 92% of late-night TV jokes targeted the right, with Trump being the subject of 7,045 jokes that year. In 2024, Trump was targeted 5,980 times.
Representatives for “The Daily Show,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers” did not immediately respond to requests for comment. David Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, commented on the findings, stating, “Late-night comedy has become remarkably predictable. When the same people are always the punchline, and the same people are almost never the punchline, eventually the pattern becomes funnier than the jokes. Comedy is sharpest when nobody is off limits. Late night should try it.”