Will Cain | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Cain in 2025 | |
| Born | Charles Williams Cain (1975-03-28)March 28, 1975 (age 50) Sherman, Texas, U.S. |
| Education | Pepperdine University (BA) University of Texas School of Law (JD) |
| Occupations |
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| Known for | The Will Cain Show onESPN Radio andFox News, co-host ofFox & Friends Weekend. |
| Spouse | Kathleen Cain[1] |
| Children | 2 |
Charles Williams Cain (born March 28, 1975)[2][3] is an Americancolumnist, conservativepolitical analyst, andsports commentator. He hostsThe Will Cain Show weekdays at 4 p.m. on theFox News Channel. Previously, Cain had been a co-host ofFox & Friends Weekend. Cain was a contributor forESPN, joining the network in March 2015,[4] working with the features unit andE:60 and appearing onFirst Take.[5] He was the host ofThe Will Cain Show onESPN Radio, which ran from January 2018 to June 2020. He has also been a contributor forBlaze Media andCNN, appearing frequently onSoledad O'Brien's morning programStarting Point.
Cain was born and raised inSherman, Texas.[6][7] AttendingPepperdine University, Cain played one year on the water polo team and graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in telecommunications in 1997.[8][2] On the Pepperdine water polo team, Cain was a walk-on who scored his only goal in 1996,[6] in a game againstUC Santa Barbara.[8] Cain said of the experience in 2010, "Pepperdine water polo was extremely accommodating in its development of a walk-on such as me, and that's something positively unique about this program. I almost went toUSC, and I'm sure that if I did have a water polo career there it would have been much shorter."[8] In 2000, Cain completed his J.D. degree at theUniversity of Texas School of Law.[8] After law school, Cain moved to a ranch inMontana, where he worked as a ranch hand while trying to write a book.[8]
Following the death of his father in 2001, Cain returned to the Dallas area to help care for his younger brother. While in Texas, Cain bought two community newspapers and started others before selling them toStephens Media, publisher of theLas Vegas Review-Journal.[8] Around 2006, Cain founded Quince Media, which published a magazine, website, and expos aboutquinceañeras.[8]
Cain previously worked as a fill-in host for CNN'sIn the Arena, where he co-hosted the program withE. D. Hill from February 28, 2011, to August 5, 2011.
Cain began working at ESPN in 2015 as a radio personality, hosting the programWill and Kate withKate Fagan and serving as a fill-in for other ESPN Radio anchors. He was a frequent contributor toOutside the Lines and eventually became a fill-in host and frequent guest onFirst Take.[6] Cain then was named co-host ofThe Ryen Russillo Show but Russillo soon left the show.[9] Cain began hosting his own show,The Will Cain Show, on ESPN Radio in 2018.[10]The Washington Post observed about Cain's ESPN presence in 2018: "Cain's growing profile comes amid consistent charges of liberal bias at ESPN for its coverage of social and political issues in sports."[6] By 2018, Michael McCarthy ofSporting News argued that Cain "provides a valuable balance to ESPN" and noted he had become a “virtual third debate partner” withStephen A. Smith,Max Kellerman andMolly Qerim onFirst Take.[11] Cain continued to appear sporadically onFirst Take until his final appearance on June 24, 2020,[12] while his final episode ofThe Will Cain Show aired two days later.[13]
In 2020, Cain left ESPN to move to Fox News as co-host ofFox & Friends Weekend (along withJedediah Bila andPete Hegseth).[14][15] His first appearance onFox & Friends Weekend was in August 2020.[15] On April 5, 2021, Cain launchedThe Will Cain Podcast,[16] combining his commentary in news, politics, and sports.[17] In addition to hostingFox & Friends Weekend, Cain serves as a regular fill-in host on programs such asThe Five andJesse Watters Primetime.
In May 2023, Cain served as an interim host ofFox News Tonight following the firing ofTucker Carlson.[18]
On January 13, 2025, Fox News announced that he would become the permanent host of the network's 4 p.m. hour following the departure of long-time anchorNeil Cavuto. Cain ended his run onFox & Friends Weekend on January 18 andThe Will Cain Show debuted on January 21, 2025.[19] On September 10, 2025, Cain was tasked with reporting the confirmation ofCharlie Kirk's death following hisassassination atUtah Valley University.[20][21] Cain had hosted Kirk's final television interview on his show the previous day.[22]
Cain was one of ESPN's most conservative voices, although his ESPN show focused mostly on sports.[6] Cain told theWashington Post in 2018, "Has being conservative helped me since I've been here? Of course. ESPN doesn't have a voice like mine."[6] Cain had been critical ofDonald Trump;[6] in 2011, while he was at CNN, Cain wrote an op-ed that criticized Trump,Sarah Palin, andpopulism from a conservative perspective.[23] On a January 2017 episode ofFirst Take, Cain said that he did not vote for Trump in the2016 election,[24] which he later reiterated in a 2020 interview discussing his move from ESPN to Fox News.[25]
In January 2022, Cain criticized the first year ofJoe Biden's presidency on his podcast, calling Biden "the worst president of my lifetime."[26] By 2024, Cain had shifted to a much more supportive stance on Trump, explaining to former ESPN co-host Stephen A. Smith that he believed Trump's first term policies were effective and calling the then-former president "really, really likable."[27] By the end of Biden's presidency and just before the start of Trump's second term, Cain was described byThe Daily Beast as a "MAGA convert" who was "much less likely to be critical of the president-elect" than the outgoing Neil Cavuto, whom Cain was replacing in Fox News' 4 p.m. timeslot.[28]
Cain met his wife, Kathleen, in college. The couple has two children, Charlie and West.[29]
By the end of this segment, I will be vilified for defending a proposition that I neither voted for and have written publicly against. I did not vote for Donald Trump, and I have publicly written against him.
Cain, who says he did not vote for Trump in 2016, says he is undaunted by the prospect of some Twitter criticism from the president.
