Kristen Welker: Who is the moderator of tonight’s presidential debate?

Ms Welker will moderate final presidential debate before November Election

NBC’s Kristen Welker is slated to moderate the final presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden next Thursday.

The 90-minute debate will take place at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, at 9 pm EST and will almost certainly be the candidates’ last time sharing a stage before the presidential election on 3 November.

The second debate between Mr Trump and Mr Biden, originally scheduled for 15 October, was canceled following the president’s Covid-19 diagnosis and his refusal to participate in a virtual format. Instead, both candidates held dueling televised town halls on Thursday where they took questions from potential voters.

Ms Welker, who will moderate the final debate, is a White House Correspondent for NBC News. On Friday, she announced the topics for the debate: fighting Covid-19, American families, race in America, climate change, national security, and leadership.

Last week, Ms Welker raised a few eyebrows for deactivating her Twitter account after C-SPAN’s political editor Steve Scully admitting to lying about having his Twitter feed hacked. Mr Scully, who was scheduled to moderate the now-cancelled second debate, was criticised for an exchange he had with former Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci.

After Mr Scully admitted to lying about his Twitter account being hacked, Ms Welker appeared to have reactivated her account. 

Ms Welker began her reporting career in 2005. She joined NBC News in 2010, based in Burbank, California. She began covering the White House for the station in 2011.

Her reporting has appeared on NBC News and MSNBC, including the programmes “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt,” “TODAY”, “Meet the Press”, and NBCNews.com.