NBC anchor Chuck Todd is set to leave Meet the Press after hosting the political talk show since 2014.
“It’s been an amazing nearly decadelong run,” Todd told viewers on Sunday. “I am really proud of what this team and I have built over the last decade,” Todd said during the broadcast Sunday. “I’ve loved so much of this job, helping to explain America to Washington and explain Washington to America.”
“I’ve let work consume me for nearly 30 years. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t wake up before 5 or 6 a.m., and as I’ve watched too many friends and family let work consume them before it was too late, I promised my family I wouldn’t do that.”
A memo circulated to staffers by the network’s president of editorial, Rebecca Blumenstein, and Carrie Budoff Brown, senior vice president of politics, confirmed the announcement.
Meet the Press “has sustained its historic role as the indispensable news program on Sunday mornings,” the two NBC News executives told employees. “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 is slated to be replaced by Kristen Welker, a former chief White House correspondent, who moderated one of the 2020 presidential debates between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
Welker’s “sharp questioning of lawmakers is a masterclass in political interviews,” the corporate memo further stipulated.
The newly-appointed anchor commended Todd’s illustrious career on Twitter following the announcement.
Todd “has been a mentor and friend since my first day at @NBCNews. 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 @MeetThePress,” Welker tweeted on Sunday.
Todd sought to address many who criticized him for allowing 2020 election deniers a seat at the talk show table during his tenure.
“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.”
“If you do this job seeking popularity, you are doing this job incorrectly,” the anchor added. “I take the attacks from partisans as compliments. And I take the genuine compliments with a grain of salt when they come from partisans.
Todd noted that he plans to remain involved at NBC as its chief political analyst.