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Chuck Todd on the set of “Meet the Press,” in Washington D.C. on Sunday, February 21, 2021 — (Photo … [+]
William B. Plowman/NBC
An emotional Chuck Todd took time at the end of NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday to announce that he would be stepping down from his role as moderator of the iconic public affairs program after more than nine years. “The key to the survival of any of these media entities, including here at Meet the Press,” Todd told viewers, “is for leaders to not overstay their welcome. I’d rather leave a little bit too soon than stay a tad too long.”
Todd will leave Meet the Press in September, but remain at NBC in a new role as chief political analyst, making regular appearances on NBC programs and the network’s coverage of the 2024 presidential campaign. He will also focus on long-form journalism, part of the mission he’s brought to Meet the Press, which has in recent years expanded into documentaries and even launched its own film festival.
“It’s been an amazing nearly decade long run,” Todd said. “I am really proud of what this team and I have built over the last decade. I’ve loved so much of this job, helping to explain America to Washington and explain Washington to America.”
Todd revealed that NBC News chief White House correspondent Kristen Welker would take over as moderator of Meet the Press. “Chuck Todd has been a mentor and friend since my first day at NBC News,” Welker said on Twitter. “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 Meet the Press.”
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“When I took this job seven years ago, I knew if it stayed a Sunday show it would be dead,” Todd told me in 2021, as he reflected on adapting a show that dates to 1947 for a modern multi-platform world. Todd envisioned a Meet the Press where the conversations around the table on a Sunday morning became part of a longer, ongoing conversation about major issues like climate change, race and immigration. “It’s the gold standard brand on politics,” Todd said. “I’m coming to you, I’m going to the platform where you are…if Meet the Press is going to thrive in the 21st Century, it’s got to be platform neutral.”
In a memo to staff, NBC News president of editorial Rebecca Blumenstein and NBC News senior vice president of politics Carrie Budoff Brown thanked Todd for his “thoughtful and passionate leadership.”
“Meet the Press has sustained its historic role as the indispensable news program on Sunday mornings,” Blumenstein and Budoff Brown said. “Through his penetrating interviews with many of the most important newsmakers, the show has played an essential role in politics and policy, routinely made front-page news, and framed the thinking in Washington and beyond.”
Todd became moderator of Meet the Press in 2014. He replaced David Gregory, who took over following the death of Tim Russert in 2008. Russert had been the show’s longest-serving moderator.
