After nearly a decade, Chuck Todd is stepping down from his role as moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press later this summer. NBC News chief White House correspondent and Saturday Today co-anchor Kristen Welker will take over as moderator of the legendary public affairs program in September.
Todd is not leaving NBC News, however. The network says he will serve as NBC News chief political analyst, will focus on long-form journalism and continue producing the Chuck Toddcast and Meet the Press Reports.
Todd stepped into the MTP moderator role in September 2014, and went on to have one of the longest runs as moderator in the show’s storied history. He was in the seat for its 70th and 75th anniversaries and for two presidential campaign cycles.
During Todd’s run as moderator, Meet the Press improved from third place to first place in the Sunday show Nielsen ratings race. The show held the No. 1 spot among Adults 25-54 for several years, including a particularly dominant stretch in the Washington DC market. MTP did lose that No. 1 ranking a couple seasons ago, however.
Todd was also a force behind the transformation of the MTP brand into a unique, modern-day franchise. He helped expand the Sunday show’s footprint to an array of new mediums, including a spinoff on the NBC News Now streaming service, a podcast and an annual Meet the Press film festival.
The NBC newsman addressed his imminent exit on today’s broadcast.
“And now a personal announcement: While today is not my final show, this will be my final summer here at Meet the Press,” Todd said. “It’s been an amazing nearly decade-long run. I am really proud of what this team and I have built over the last decade, frankly, the last 15 years, which also includes my time as political director. I’ve loved so much of this job, helping to explain America to Washington and explain Washington to America.”
He added, “But this is also an important time for me personally. I’ve let work consume me for nearly 30 years. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t wake up before 5 or 6a, and as I’ve watched too many friends and family let work consume them before it was too late, I promised my family I wouldn’t do that.”
.@chucktodd has been a mentor and friend since my first day at @NBCNews. I’ve learned so much from sitting with him at the anchor desk and simply experiencing his passion for politics. I'm humbled and grateful to take the baton and continue to build on the legacy of @MeetThePress
— Kristen Welker (@kwelkernbc) June 4, 2023
Welker is no stranger to Meet the Press viewers, is a regular fill-in on the Sunday broadcast, anchors Meet the Press Now every Monday and Tuesday, and has been Todd’s co-anchor on election nights since 2021. She gained wider acclaim during the 2020 presidential election cycle as a presidential debate moderator, earning praise from both sides of the aisle for her tough, but fair questioning of then-candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Welker started out in local news (as so many do), working at ABC and NBC affiliates in Rhode Island, California, and Pennsylvania before settling into the weekend anchor chair at WCAU in Philadelphia. She joined NBC News in 2010 as a correspondent based in Los Angeles, and arrived the following year in Washington and later was named Chief White House correspondent.
“Just as important, I’m also ready to take a step back because I know the person whom I’m passing the baton to is somebody who’s been ready for this for a while. Kristen Welker,” said Todd. I’ve had the privilege of working with her from essentially her first day and let me just say she’s the right person in the right moment. And FWIW, this is exactly how I always hoped this would end, that I’d be passing the baton to her, which I’ll officially do in September.”
Today we close our show with an announcement from @chucktodd:
"While today is not my final show, this will be my final summer here at Meet the Press. … I am really proud of what this team and I have built over the last decade." pic.twitter.com/sgeUcNR3C5
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 4, 2023