South Bend, Indiana, Mayor and Democratic presidential hopeful, Pete Buttigieg received a standing ovation at the end of a Fox News town hall event Sunday evening, after telling the crowd why he had entered the 2020 presidential race.

The town hall, held in Claremont, New Hampshire, was moderated by anchor Chris Wallace, who expressed visible surprise at the audience reaction. During the interview, Buttigieg was critical of Fox's leading commentators and also called for an end to the electoral college, which has historically disadvantaged minority candidates, and minority voters, challenging the one person, one vote ethos of American democracy.

In closing remarks, Buttigieg said his campaign was trying to do things differently, and that while an Indiana mayor was not a typical candidate, these are not typical times. He added this moment in American history was one of the blank pages between chapters, and that running for office was an act of hope, and he encouraged the audience to join him in telling the story of this moment.

“Thank you, mayor,” Wallace said, as the audience stood up and applauded.

“Wow, a standing ovation,” Wallace continued.

Other presidential candidates were not pleased with Buttigieg’s appearance, despite his adroitly handling pointed questions from Wallace. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has said Democrats should not appear on the network due to its racism and sycophantic support of the Trump administration. However, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders also drew applause from a studio audience when he appeared at a Fox town hall in April, while discussing a Medicare-for-all proposal.

Probably Buttigieg’s biggest detractor was the president himself. Trump took to the Tweetersphere to question why Fox News would have the 37-year-old openly gay candidate on its network. He continued a Twitter tirade on Monday.

During the interview, Buttigieg criticized the network’s often disingenuous opinion makers, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Laura Ingraham, all of whom he called out by name. At the same time, he admitted he believed viewers of the network acted in good faith when tuning in, and were genuinely interested in staying abreast of events.

Warren and Sen. Kamala Harris of California have vowed not to appear on the network during the 2020 campaign but some candidates may use an appearance on Fox to differentiate their brand. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is scheduled for a Fox town hall next month.

On Monday morning, in an effort to explain why Buttigieg received the standing ovation, Fox and Friends host Brian Kilmeade claimed the Buttigieg stacked the audience with supporters.

“I think he is related to the whole audience,” Kilmeade claimed.

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