Chuck Todd is leaving NBC’s Meet the Press after nine years.
Todd, 51, told viewers of his decision to leave the political panel show during Sunday’s broadcast. This summer season will be his last as the moderator of Meet the Press.
“I’ve watched too many friends and family let work consume them before it was too late” and he promised his family he wouldn’t do that.
The political journalist also said he was ready to step back from his position to give someone else a chance. In this case, his colleague, Kristen Welker, who is currently a White House correspondent for NBC.
I’m also ready to take a step back because I have so much confidence in the person I’m going to pass the baton to,” he said. “For what it’s worth, this is always how I hoped this would end for me, that I’d be passing the baton to her.”
While Todd will no longer appear on Meet the Press, he won’t disappear from politics. He plans to stay with NBC in order to help “navigate and coach colleagues in this 2024 campaign season and beyond.”
“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.”
Welker will be the first Black moderator of Meet the Press and the first woman to host since Martha Rountree left in 1953.
This is big news for everyone! I am excited to see a change on Meet the Press and can’t wait to see what Kristen Welker will bring to the table.
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