Kristen Welker is poised to close one chapter and open a new one at NBC News.
Welker’s last Saturday broadcast of Today with her co-anchor Peter Alexander is tomorrow, and viewers will see a promo for her next journalistic challenge — as the new moderator of Meet the Press, starting September 17.
The promo, first received by Variety, displays various moments from across her NBC News career: In the White House briefing room covering multiple presidents; on the campaign trail; and moderating one of the 2020 presidential debates, for which she garnered rave reviews.
The spot also features clips from Welker’s stints as a fill-in for Chuck Todd on the existing version of Meet the Press.
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Welker is replacing Todd on MTP, but Todd is not leaving NBC News entirely. The network says he will serve as NBC News chief political analyst, focus on long-form journalism and continue producing the Chuck Toddcast and Meet the Press Reports.
“Chuck brought me to D.C. to cover the White House many years ago, and I have learned almost everything I know about politics from Chuck Todd,” Welker told NBC Milwaukee affiliate WTMJ earlier this week. “And I just want to make sure that I am making him proud, and that I am building on the incredible legacy that he started and also the legacy of the show.”
NBC News reportedly plans to make a few changes to the public affairs program once Welker steps into the moderator role, a move that was announced in June. A new logo has already been created, and Welker gets a new desk.
The new Meet the Press moderator started out in local news, holding on-air roles at ABC and NBC affiliates in Rhode Island, California and Pennsylvania before settling into the weekend anchor chair at WCAU in Philadelphia. Welker joined NBC News in 2010 as a correspondent based in Los Angeles, and arrived in Washington D.C. the following year as a correspondent. Her most recent role at NBC News is as chief White House correspondent.