Kristen Welker

Kristen Welker (born July 1, 1976) is an American television journalist working for NBC News. She serves as a White House correspondent based in Washington, D.C., 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 American television history, Meet the Press, on September 17, 2023.

Early life Kristen Welker is the daughter of Harvey and Julie Welker. Her father is an engineer, her mother a real estate agent. Welker's father is Jewish and her mother is African American. She graduated from the private Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia in 1994.

Welker received a Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) with a major in American history from Harvard College in 1998. She interned for the TV program Today in 1997.

Career

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.

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.

In September 2023, Welker succeeded Chuck Todd as anchor of the Sunday morning program Meet the Press and its weekday spin-off Meet the Press Now on NBC News NOW.

On her debut show as host, she interviewed former U.S President Donald Trump. The interview was criticized by some who felt that Welker did not challenge Trump's alleged falsehoods enough and that Trump shouldn't have been given a platform to spread his views on the 2020 election and other topics.

On May 4, 2025, Welker interviewed Donald Trump for the second time on Meet the Press. This interview received some notoriety after Trump expressed doubt when asked if he would uphold the US Constitution as president.

On June 7, 2026, Welker's third interview with Donald Trump ended after he abruptly left after clashing over challenges to his claims against election rigging in the 2020 Presidential Election and the 2026 California primary elections.

On August 30, 2026, Donald Trump said he would refer Welker to the FCC for "rebuke or punishment," after she noted that the president's success in endorsing political candidates has been mixed.

Personal life Welker married marketing executive John Hughes in Philadelphia on March 4, 2017. She has publicly discussed her struggles with infertility. They have two children born by surrogacy, a daughter in June 2021 and a son in May 2024.

Awards and recognition

2023: Named among Glamours "Women of the Year" for breaking barriers in broadcast journalism. Harvard College — Magna cum laude, Bachelor of Arts in American history (1998). Germantown Friends School (Philadelphia) graduate, 1994.