| Kristen Welker | |
| Birth Date: | July 1, 1976 |
| Birth Place: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Education: | Harvard University (BA) |
| Children: | 2 |
| Employer: | NBC News |
Kristen Welker (born July 1, 1976[1]) is an American television journalist working for NBC News. She serves as a White House correspondent based in Washington, D.C.,[2] and served as co-anchor of Weekend Today, the Saturday edition of Today, alongside Peter Alexander from 2020 to 2023. She took over hosting duties for the longest-running program in television history, Meet the Press, on September 17, 2023.[3] [4]
Welker is the daughter of Harvey and Julie Welker.[5] Her father is an engineer, her mother a real estate agent.[6] Welker's father is White and her mother is Black.[7] She graduated from Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia in 1994 and Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1998.[8] [9] [10] At Harvard, she majored in American history and graduated magna cum laude.[11] Welker also interned for Today in 1997, while at Harvard.[12]
Welker has worked at ABC affiliates WLNE-TV in Providence, Rhode Island, and KRCR-TV in Redding/Chico, California, and joined NBC in 2005 at affiliate WCAU in Philadelphia, where she was a reporter and weekend anchor. She then joined NBC News in 2010 as a correspondent based at the NBC News West Coast Headquarters in Burbank, California. She became an NBC White House correspondent in December 2011.
Welker regularly represented MSNBC at the daily White House press briefings as well as reported live for various programs on the channel. She occasionally filled in on NBC Nightly News and Today. On January 10, 2020, NBC announced that Welker would become the regular co-anchor of Weekend Today alongside Peter Alexander. She debuted as co-anchor on Weekend Today on January 11, 2020.[13]
On October 22, 2020, amidst the ongoing COVID pandemic emergency, Kristen Welker hosted the final debate in the 2020 presidential election between incumbent Republican president Donald Trump and his challenger, former vice president Joe Biden.[14]
On June 4, 2023, it was announced by NBC that Welker had been named to succeed Chuck Todd as anchor of their Sunday morning program, Meet the Press, starting on September 17, 2023, and its weekday spin-off Meet the Press Now on NBC News NOW starting on September 22, 2023.[15]
On her debut show as host, she interviewed former U.S President Donald Trump.[16] The interview was met with some criticism as some felt Welker did not adequately push back on Trump's many falsehoods and that Trump shouldn't be given a platform to spread his lies about the 2020 election and other things.[17] [4]
On November 8, 2023, she co-moderated the third 2024 GOP primary debate alongside Lester Holt and Hugh Hewitt in Miami, Florida. Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy started off by attacking her calling her a member of the "corrupt media establishment" and accusing her of pushing "the Trump–Russia collusion hoax". Welker grinned and ignored the attack and Holt moved on.[18] [19]
Welker married John Hughes on March 4, 2017, in Philadelphia.[20] Their daughter was born on June 12, 2021 through a surrogate.[21] A son was later born via surrogate on May 30, 2024.