Meet Kristen Welker, the Philly native and new host of NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’

Philadelphia native Kristen Welker debuts as the new moderator of NBC’s flagship politics show Meet the Press on Sunday, and she’s not wasting any time putting her own stamp on the long-running show.

Meet the Press will air an interview between Welker and former President Donald Trump during her debut, his first appearance on NBC since June 2019 and his first broadcast TV interview since leaving the White House. The interview was pretaped to allow the network to fact-check Trump, and NBC said the same invitation has been extended to President Joe Biden.

Welker, 47, is no stranger to the news spotlight. She’s covered the White House for NBC since 2011, reporting on three administrations and drawing rave reviews for her role moderating a 2020 presidential debate between Trump and Biden. She offered a glimpse into her approach as moderator last weekend during a send-off for Chuck Todd, whom she credits with bringing her to Washington.

“I want to approach this as a reporter. That’s who I am, that’s who I’ve always been,” Welker said. “I’ve traveled all over world with all of these presidents, and I really want to bring that to the show every Sunday to make sure that we are giving our viewers the information that they need.

“And now my beat, by the way, is all of Washington, the campaign trail and frankly, the world, and I want to be asking those tough questions,” Welker added. “The role of the moderator is to bring Washington to the rest of America, and vice versa.”

Here’s everything you need to know about Kristen Welker, the new moderator of Meet the Press:

Welker was raised in Fairmount, and knew in the sixth grade she wanted to be a reporter after watching Barbara Walters dance with Patrick Swayze during a 1988 interview.

She graduated from Germantown Friends School in 1994, and the following year her career goals solidified when her mother, Julie, ran unsuccessfully for Philadelphia City Council.

“Some reporters asked her about being married to my father — they have an interracial relationship — as if that was somehow a negative thing,” Welker told The Inquirer in a 2016 interview. “I think my parents handled it with grace; I would get very upset about this line of questioning. It made me realize how important it is that political reporters are being fair. Tough, but fair.”

Welker interned on the Today show in 1997 while attending Harvard University. After graduating, she spent several years working for ABC affiliates in Providence, R.I., and Redding, Calif., before joining NBC10 as a general assignment reporter in 2005. She later became the station’s weekend news anchor.

She remained in Philadelphia for five years before taking a temporary reporting assignment at NBC’s Los Angeles bureau. That turned into a role as a network correspondent for NBC News based in Burbank, Calif.

NBC10 has been a jumping-off platform for a number of national media figures. Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was once a reporter for the station, and it was the launching pad for CBS News executive editor and former NBC News president Steve Capus. Former NBC Nightly News anchor and MSNBC host Brian Williams covered South Jersey for WCAU when it was still owned by CBS.

“It’s hard not to feel inspired and excited that I’m following in their footsteps, to some extent,” Welker told Philly Mag in 2010. “It doesn’t suggest that I’ll rise to the level of Brian Williams.”

Following the 2020 presidential debate, media figures publicly praised Welker’s performance — including Chris Wallace, who faced criticism for the disorder in the first presidential debate.

During Fox News’ postdebate coverage, Wallace said he was “jealous” of how the Welker-hosted debate went, according to USA Today. In a tweet, news anchor Dan Rather said he gave “a tip of the Stetson to Kristen Welker,” whom he called “a consummate pro on a big and difficult stage.”

Welker was the first Black woman to serve as debate moderator in about three decades, which Washington Post reporter Marissa Lang lauded in a tweet.

“I have been waiting for months to watch a woman of color moderate one of these presidential debates and, boy, [Welker] did not disappoint,” Lang wrote. “Unflappable, smart and in control every step of the way. Expertly done.”

Todd will stay on staff at NBC, the network reported in June. He plans to serve as chief political analyst, as well as work on long-form news projects that are “focused on bridging our divides, piercing these political bubbles,” he said in his final appearance as moderator on Sunday.

His role as moderator, he said on his final show, was “something my younger self never would have imagined.”

“I still always have had a ‘pinch me, I can’t believe it’ feeling every time I hear my name introduced as the moderator of the longest running show in the history of television,” Todd said. “I used to joke my goal is not to be the last moderator of the longest running show in American history, and I have achieved that goal and then some.”

Welker will become the 16th moderator on Meet the Press, the longest-running television show in history, airing consecutively for more than 76 years.

Welker will become the show’s first Black moderator and its second female anchor. When Meet the Press launched in 1947, it was hosted by broadcasting pioneer and cofounder Martha Rountree, who remained in the role until 1953.

Probably the most well-known Meet the Press moderator is the late Tim Russert, who anchored the show for more than 16 years until his death in 2008. The Buffalo native placed an emphasis on probing interviews with high-profile Washington guests, and Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008.

Here are the previous moderators of Meet the Press: