Chuck Todd Announces Departure From NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ After Nearly a Decade

NBC’s Meet the Press host Chuck Todd made news of his own at the close of his show Sunday morning, announcing he would be stepping down at the end of the summer after nearly a decade hosting the show. Todd said Kristen Welker, the network’s chief White House correspondent, would replace him in September. 

“I am really proud of what this team and I have built over the last decade,” Todd, 51, said during his broadcast Sunday morning. “I’ve loved so much of this job, helping to explain America to Washington and explain Washington to America.” 

Todd said his decision to leave the show was shaped by a desire to spend more time with his family, having seen too many friends “let work consume them before it was too late.” “I’ve let work consume me for nearly 30 years,” he said. “I can’t remember the last time I didn’t wake up before 5 or 6 a.m.” 

Todd added that he was aware that many leaders “overstay their welcome” and that he’d rather leave “a little bit too soon than stay a tad too long.” 

In a staff memo, NBC News’ president of editorial, Rebecca Blumenstein, and NBC News’ senior vice president of politics, Carrie Budoff Brown, praised the show’s “historic role as the indispensable news program on Sunday mornings.” “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,” Blumenstein and Budoff Brown wrote. 

Welker has covered the White House for the network since 2011, and was named co-chief correspondent in 2021. “@chucktodd has been a mentor and friend since my first day at @NBCNews,” Denker tweeted Sunday morning. “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.”