CNN and ABC News made election history of their own last night when they quietly featured new lead anchors of their respective election coverage.
David Muir was the point person for ABC News’ Election Night 2022 coverage taking over from George Stephanopoulos, who held the top role for the 2018 and 2020 elections.
Jake Tapper was at the helm of CNN’s primetime Election Night in America 2022 coverage, alongside Anderson Cooper, announcing key projections, succeeding Wolf Blitzer, who had been leading CNN’s election coverage since 2004.
CNN’s anchor change is perhaps the more notable one as Blitzer was the one who called many momentous election results, including the presidencies of Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and he was the first TV newser to call the 2020 race for Joe Biden.
Tapper’s ascension to the top role transpired before the arrival of Chris Licht and the Warner Bros. Discovery team. He was named CNN’s lead anchor for all major Washington events in January 2021.
Many viewers noticed the change last night.
Where is @wolfblitzer ? I miss the wolf on Election nights
— Revan (@ArsArcanumIII) November 9, 2022
election night in america feels wrong without @wolfblitzer
— Rachel Colson (@rlcolson) November 8, 2022
Election night just won’t be the same without @wolfblitzer anchoring on @CNN. pic.twitter.com/MagoI18Jes
— Brian Szuksta (@BrianSzuksta22) November 8, 2022
The strong, deep reassuring voice from @wolfblitzer tonight on @cnn election coverage was no where to be found. After two decades? #elephantintheroom
— Jill Chappell (@JChappellAdly) November 9, 2022
This is no time for conspiracy theories about U.S. elections, which are free of large-scale fraud. This *is* the time for conspiracy theories about where Wolf Blitzer is.
— Stephen Wertheim (@stephenwertheim) November 9, 2022
Blitzer has not been totally absent from CNN’s midterm elections coverage, however. He has been the primary anchor for the network’s daytime coverage on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Over at ABC News, there was reportedly a tussle between Muir and Stephanopoulos with regard to who would be the network’s chief anchor (or perhaps a tussle between management and their respective agents). To appease them, ABC News named Muir, who anchors World News Tonight, the network’s lead anchor for all major political events, in line with fellow network evening news anchors Lester Holt and Norah O’Donnell. Stephanopoulos, who anchors Good Morning America and ABC News’ Sunday public affairs show This Week, would anchor the network’s breaking news coverage.
Stephanopoulos has also been given a production company, George Stephanopoulos Productions, a partnership with ABC News that creates unscripted news docuseries for ABC News and Hulu.