Chuck Todd announced Sunday he is parting ways with NBC’s “Meet the Press” after almost 10 years as host of the political panel show. He is to be replaced in coming months by NBC News’ co-chief White House correspondent Kristen Welker.
Todd, 51, told viewers he did not want his life to be consumed by work, explaining “I’ve watched too many friends and family let work consume them before it was too late” and he’d promised his family he wouldn’t do that.
No precise timeline has been announced but Todd told viewers this would be his final summer.
“I leave feeling concerned about this moment in history but reassured by the standards we’ve set here,” Todd said. “We didn’t tolerate propagandists and this network and program never will.”
Projected replacement Welker, a former chief White House correspondent, has been at NBC News in Washington since 2011.
She has been Todd’s chief fill-in for the past three years and was thrust into a broader public spotlight when moderating the final presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in 2020.
Her “sharp questioning of lawmakers is a masterclass in political interviews,” Rebecca Blumenstein, NBC News president of editorial, said in a memo seen by AP announcing Welker’s elevation.
Welker, 46, will be forced to move quickly into adapting to the new role as the 2024 presidential election draws near.
Moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News asks a question during the second and final presidential debate Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020, at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, Pool)
Welker joins the ranks of hosts that included Tim Russert, who presided over the show from 1991 until his death in 2008. She is the second woman — following its inaugural host, Martha Rountree — to moderate “Meet the Press.”
“Meet the Press” is the longest-running show on American television, celebrating its 75th anniversary last year, as the network itself points out in confirming the replacement.