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Moderator and host of “Meet the Press” Chuck Todd announced Sunday that he will be stepping down this year after nine years as host of the public affairs talk show. He will be succeeded by Kristen Welker, Associate White House Correspondent for NBC News.
“It’s been an amazing race for almost ten years,” Todd said during Sunday’s broadcast. “I’m really proud of what I and this team have done over the past decade.” “I loved this job so much, helping explain America to Washington and explaining Washington to America.”
He plans to stay at NBC in a new role as lead political analyst, where he will serve as a lead voice both on the field and during coverage of major events. It will also focus on long press.
“When I took over ‘Meet the Press,’ it was a Sunday show that had a lot of people wondering if it could still have a place in the modern media space,” Todd added. “Well, I think we answered that question and then some.”
In a note to staff, NBC News Editor-in-Chief Rebecca Blumenstein and NBC News Senior Vice President of Policy Carrie Bodoff-Brown commended Chuck’s “thoughtful and passionate leadership.”
“Meet the Press has maintained its historic role as the indispensable Sunday morning news program,” Blumenstein and Budoff-Brown said. “With its insightful interviews with many of the most important newsmakers, the show has been instrumental in politics and policy, routinely making front-page news, framing thinking in Washington and beyond.”
Welker joins the ranks of hosts that include Tim Russert, who chaired the program from 1991 until his death in 2008. She is the second woman—after its inaugural host Martha Roowntree—and the first black female journalist to moderate “Meet the Press.” “
“Meet the Press” is the longest-running program on American television, and last year it celebrated its 75th anniversary. Her shows have led the competition in total viewership for more than eight years and won her first Emmy Award during Todd’s tenure for a special report titled “Schools, America, and Race.”
Todd has been at the helm of the show during some of the most important political events of the past decade – including the final years of President Barack Obama’s administration, the 2016 presidential campaign and election of Donald Trump, and the aftermath of the US Capitol riot. On January 6, 2021.
In one of the most memorable interviews of the early Trump era, Todd Kellyanne Conway, a top Trump aide, asked why then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer used his briefing room debut to dispute reports about the size of the crowd in the room. Opening. Conway replied that Spicer was presenting “alternative facts” — a turn of phrase that has quickly become synonymous with the Trump administration’s attitude to facts and the media.
In response, Todd said, “Look, alternative facts are not facts. They are lies.”
Todd—the 12th moderator of “Meet the Press” and a five-time Emmy Award-winning journalist—considered himself the show’s keeper. “I don’t have this, I’m just sitting at home,” he said during a 75th anniversary celebration in Washington last year. “I want to leave it in a better state for the next person, and every single person has done that.”
Welker has regularly filled in for Todd on Meet the Press. In his remarks during Sunday’s broadcast, Todd said he’s willing to back down in part because Welker has been “up for it for so long.”
“I’ve had the privilege of working with her since day one, and let me just say she’s the right person at the right moment,” he said.
Welker joined NBC News in 2010 and has become a mainstay in the White House Briefing Room. She has covered the last three presidential elections, and has traveled the world with top political leaders, W He moderated the final debate for 2020 Between Trump and President Joe Biden. In 2020, she was chosen as the co-host of ‘Weekend Today’.
“She adroitly moderated the presidential primary and general debates, and her sharp questioning of lawmakers is a mastery of political interviews,” Blumenstein and Budoff-Brown said in their memo to staff. “She’s a die-hard reporter who enjoys getting paid big and is widely admired throughout the office and the network for her highly collaborative nature.”
Welker will take over the show as the 2024 presidential campaign heats up and prepares to enter the primary season. The Republican National Committee announced last week that the first GOP debate is scheduled for Aug. 23.
Todd took over Meet the Press in September 2014, succeeding David Gregory, and has expanded the show’s broadcast and digital footprint to include a weekly podcast, blog, and annual film festival. In addition to the Sunday show, he helped launch and host “MTP Daily,” a weekday version of the show that aired on MSNBC before moving to the NBC News Now streaming service last year.
Previously, he was the chief White House Correspondent for NBC News and host of the MSNBC series “The Daily Rundown.” Before arriving at NBC, Chuck was editor-in-chief of The Hotline, a news and political commentary website, where he developed a reputation as an incisive election analyst with a quick grip on data.
Disclosure: NBC News and CNBC are units of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast.
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