‘The View’: Abby Huntsman Exiting to Help Run Father’s Gubernatorial Campaign

The View co-host Abby Huntsman is leaving the longrunning talk show to help run her father Jon Huntsman Jr.’s campaign for governor of Utah, she announced on Monday. Huntsman, 33, said on the ABC talk show that she will be the senior advisor to her father’s campaign.

The daughter of the former U.S. Ambassador to Russia and former governor of Utah said her final appearance co-hosting The View will be Friday, Jan. 17. Her father’s gubernatorial campaign is already in full swing.

Huntsman explained that she came to the decision to leave The View during the show’s winter hiatus; her father had already asked her for help running his campaign when it launched.

Huntsman has been a co-host of The View since the start of its 22nd season in September 2018, having got her start at ABC News while interning at Good Morning America and World News Tonight in college. She later served as a news desk assistant for ABC News in Washington D.C. and an assistant booker for Good Morning America in New York City, according to ABC News. In October 2015, she joined Fox News as a general assignment reporter, and was named as a co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend in December 2016, which she held until she joined The View.

Over the weekend, Huntsman accompanied her father on the campaign trail, sharing a photo of the two of them on social media. “Back to my Utah roots campaigning with this guy. Democracy in action,” she captioned the photo.

Huntsman Jr. is one of five Republican candidates for governor of Utah. He held the title of governor from 2005 to 2009 and subsequently became the Ambassador to China. In 2017, he accepted a position as Ambassador to Russia. He also ran as a candidate in the 2012 presidential race, but withdrew after the New Hampshire primary.

The reaction to Huntsman’s exit was swift, with some happy to see her leave and others upset. Others wished that Huntsman’s conservative co-host Meghan McCain would leave the show.