Some of these people prob'ly don't know the meaning of the term "liberal" - as in that TV sketch ten years back or so where journalists asked (real) passers-by "Did you know that Dr Kohl is a heterosexual?" My favorite reply came from some old couple: "If we had known that, we wouldn't have voted for him."
Others might know the meaning of the term, and know the media doesn't, and are making a point.
And, did they know his wife is a thespian?
Old joke from an actual North Carolina Senate race about fifty years ago.