Harold Ford Jr., former Tennessee congressman, joins Fox News as contributor

Former Tennessee Democratic Congressman Harold Ford Jr. is now a Fox News contributor, the television network announced Tuesday.

Ford, who represented Memphis for a decade in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1997 to 2007, will now appear on all Fox News platforms during both daytime and primetime programming, CEO Suzanne Scott announced.

In the past decade, Ford has lived in New York City where he worked in finance, previously for Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley and currently as a vice chairman at PNC Financial Services.

Ford won the 2006 Tennessee Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, narrowly losing to Republican Bob Corker. He is the son of 11-term U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Sr., who he succeeded.

"I am excited to join the FOX News Media family and am grateful for the network’s commitment to showcasing a diversity of voices and viewpoints," Ford said in a statement provided by Fox.

The channel described Ford as a contributor able to bring both government and business experience, someone whose time in Congress was marked by "pragmatism" and "working across the political aisle."

Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.

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