Erick Woods Erickson (born June 3, 1975) is an American conservative talk radio host, , and former politician. He hosts a three-hour weekday talk radio on WSB 95.5 FM and 750 AM in Atlanta, which is syndicated to other radio stations around the U.S. He also writes a political blog called The Resurgent. Prior to this, he was editor-in-chief and CEO of another conservative political blog called RedState.
Early life and career
Erick Woods Erickson was born in Jackson in East Feliciana Parish,
Louisiana, moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, when he was five and returned to Jackson when he was fifteen.
Erickson attended the American School of Dubai, previously known as the Jumeirah American School. His father worked for
Conoco as an oil company production foreman.
Erickson received a bachelor's degree from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, and a
Juris Doctor degree from Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law. He is an inactive member in good standing of the State Bar of Georgia.
Erickson is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America.
Macon city council
Erickson was elected on November 6, 2007, to a four-year term as a Republican member of the Macon, Georgia
city council.
He resigned his office on February 16, 2011, partway through his first term to pursue a job with WSB radio in
Atlanta;
The
Macon Telegraph noted his poor attendance as a council member before his resignation.
Political commentator
RedState
Before starting his own blog called The Resurgent, Erickson was a blogger on another right-wing website called RedState. In 2015, he served as its editor-in-chief and chief executive before resigning from the website later that year.
Erickson's "Morning Briefing" e-mails grew from 498 subscribers when they began in February 2009 to nearly 70,000 by January 2010.
The Washington Post noted that "The ability of a single e-mail to shape a message illustrates the power of the conservative network." The article described Erickson as one of the American conservative movement's "key national players".
Erickson wrote the "Confessions of a Political Junkie" blog and is former editor-in-chief of the "Peach Pundit" blog. In 2010, he co-authored a book called Red State Uprising: How to Take Back America with Lew Uhler.
In 2014, RedState was sold to Salem Media Group, who replaced Erickson.
Television and radio
From 2010 to January 2013, Erickson was a political contributor at CNN.
[Martel, Francis, [1], March 16, 2010, "Mediaite.com", retrieved August 28, 2010] Erickson was a contributor to
FOX News from 2013 to 2018.
Erickson later alleged that
Roger Ailes terminated his affiliation with the network because of his criticism of Senator
Mitch McConnell.
[[2], "TVNewser.com", January 29, 2013.]
In January 2011, Erickson began hosting a local evening radio show on WSB Radio 95.5/750, replacing Michael Savage. Erickson moved to the slot vacated by Herman Cain when he announced his 2012 presidential bid. In 2014 and 2015, Erickson guest-hosted the national broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show numerous times. Rush Limbaugh died on February 17, 2021, and Erickson took over the late host’s three-hour midday time slot in the Atlanta radio market in March 2021. Toward the end of Erickson's career at RedState, he began to increase his focus on his radio show, which is now syndicated by the Cox Media Group to other conservative talk radio stations around the U.S.
The Resurgent
In January 2016, Erickson launched the conservative website
The Resurgent.
Political views and controversies
The Daily Telegraph of London put Erickson on its "List of Most Influential US Conservatives", giving him a rank of 69th most influential in 2007 and 65th in 2010.
[Hamden, Toby, "The most influential US conservatives: 80-61", January 11, 2010, The Telegraph, retrieved May 30, 2010] According
to the 2007 newspaper article: "Erickson epitomises the new power of the internet. A small-government fiscal and social conservative based in the South, he taps into and influences the Republican 'base' that the GOP's 2008 candidates are courting."
[Hamden, Toby, "The most influential US conservatives 2007: 61-80", October 30, 2007, The Telegraph, retrieved May 30, 2010] According to
The Atlantic, Erickson's conservatism is more traditional (as opposed to libertarian) and "deeply informed by his evangelical faith".
Erickson emphasizes small government, strong national defense, and the primacy of the traditional family.
Donald Trump
During a
CNN interview after a Republican Party debate hosted by
Fox News on August 6, 2015,
Donald Trump had said that Fox News anchor and debate co-moderator
Megyn Kelly had "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever" while questioning him during the debate. The next day, Erickson disinvited Trump from a
RedState gathering held in Atlanta,
calling Trump's remark "a bridge too far" and that even "blunt talkers and unprofessional politicians should not cross" certain lines, including decency.
The following day, Trump released a statement stating that Erickson had a history of making controversial statements for which he has had to apologize, and that he, Trump, was an outsider who did not fit into Erickson's agenda.
Erickson described Trump as "a racist" and "a fascist", and insisted, "I will not vote for Donald Trump. Ever."
On May 12, 2025, an extensive report was published that Erickson criticized the plan by Trump to accept an airplane from Qatar and that he provided "widely held criticisms of the gift".[Griffing, Alex, Conservative Radio Host Brutally Roasts Trump Accepting Plane From Qatar: It’s From the ‘Same Money Used to Kill Americans’, Mediaite, May 12, 2025]
Gender
In 2013, Erickson was criticized by
Elle Reeve in
The Atlantic for saying in an interview on Fox Business Network that males dominate females in the "natural world" and it was only "science" for men to be the breadwinners for their families.
Guns
In December 2015, Erickson posted a picture of a bullet-ridden copy of
The New York Times that he had shot at. That day's edition contained a front-page editorial in favor of
gun control.
Erickson spread a false story by RedState which claimed that 17-year old Parkland, Florida school shooting survivor David Hogg was not actually at the Parkland school when it was attacked.
LGBT rights
In August 2017, Erickson was one of several co-authors of the so-called Nashville Statement, which affirmed "that it is sinful to approve of
homosexual immorality or
and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness." The statement, which was described as a "vicious, anti-
LGBTQ manifesto" by the progressive activist group Human Rights Campaign, was attacked by some
Christianity leaders.
Attacks on public figures
In April 2009, Erickson described retiring Supreme Court Justice
David Souter on his Twitter account as "the only goat fucking
child molester to ever serve on the Supreme Court". In an appearance on
The Colbert Report, Erickson said the statement was "not my finest hour."
Erickson called Texas state senator Wendy Davis "Abortion Barbie".
Augusto Pinochet
In November 2018, Erickson tweeted that foreign aid to
Guatemala,
Nicaragua,
Honduras,
El Salvador and
Mexico would be more effectively spent installing "
Augusto Pinochet types" in these countries. He added that the US should "support strong leaders who support free market reforms and promote economic stability, even if with a heavy hand". When challenged on this proposal, Erickson replied "I'm hoping for some helicopters in this plan", a reference to the
death flights in
Chile during Pinochet's regime.
Kathryn Sikkink, a professor in International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School, responded to Erickson's remarks. She noted that "Pinochet was a Chilean dictator who committed massive human rights abuses," and that Erickson got the "facts exactly backward. Recent history and social science don't show that authoritarian regimes stop people from fleeing across borders. They show that they make more people want to flee."
Bibliography
-
Before You Wake: Life Lessons from a Father to His Children. 2017. Hachette Book Group.
-
You Will Be Made to Care The War on Faith, Family, and Your Freedom to Believe. (with Bill Blankschaen). 2016. Regnery Publishing.
-
Red State Uprising: How to Take Back America. (with Lewis K. Uhler). 2010. Regnery Publishing.
External links
