Kristen Welker Biography

Kristen Welker is an NBC News television journalist who is based in Washington, D.C., works as the network’s co-chief White House correspondent and co-anchor of Weekend Today, the Saturday edition of Today, alongside Peter Alexander. She also served as a moderator for the second presidential debate, which took place on October 22, 2020, and included Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Kristen Welker Age

Welker is 45 years old as of 2021. She was born on 1 July 1976 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

Kristen Welker Height

Welker stands at a height of 5 feet 3 inches.

Kristen Welker Parents

Welker is the daughter of Harvey and Julie Welker. Her father is an engineer, while her mother is a realtor. Welker was born to a white father and an African-American mother.

Kristen Welker Husband

On March 4, 2017, Welker married John Hughes, a Merck marketing professional, in Philadelphia. Welker is not a member of any political organization. In June 2021, Welker and her husband, John Hughes, welcomed a baby girl via surrogacy.

Kristen Welker Education

Welker earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College in 1998 after graduating from Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia in 1994. She studied history at Harvard and graduated with honors. In 1997, Welker worked as an intern with Today.

Kristen Welker Salary

Welker earns an annual salary of more than $100,000.

Kristen Welker Net Worth

Welker has an estimated net worth of $3million.

Kristen Welker Debate Moderator

On September 2, 2020, the Commission on Presidential Debates revealed the roster for the 2020 presidential debates, with Kristen Welker, co-anchor of NBC’s Weekend Today, appointed as one of the debate moderators.

Kristen Welker Photo
Kristen Welker Photo

Kristen Welker Career

In January 2020, she became a co-anchor of “Weekend TODAY.” On October 22, 2020, at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, Welker will moderate the last presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Welker co-moderated the fifth Democratic presidential debate in November 2019 at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, GA, which was hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post. Other outlets frequently highlight her dynamic questioning in White House press briefings, including an exchange with former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in which Kristen asked where the girls and young toddlers were because HHS photos of migrant children at border detention facilities only showed boys, sparking the #WhereAreTheGirls social media movement.

Welker was a regular of NBC News’ 2016 election coverage, reporting from the campaign trail of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She regularly broke exclusives, including as Vice President Joe Biden’s decision not to run for government, and was named a “major player” in Glamour magazine’s “ladies of Election 2016.”

In December 2011, Welker began covering the White House for NBC News, traveling domestically and internationally with President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden. According to Washingtonian magazine, she was “a primary source on headline-grabbing occasions — from payroll tax cuts to FLOTUS’s first international solo trip, to South Africa.” Welker joined NBC News in 2010 as a network correspondent based in Burbank, California, before taking up the White House beat.

Welker was nominated for a National Emmy Award for her contribution in NBC News’ midterm election coverage during her first year with the network. For her work on NBC News’ coverage of Malaysia Airlines Flight #17, she received a National Emmy Award. Early in her career, Welker worked as a researcher on “Weekend TODAY” and as an intern for “TODAY” while in college.

Welker began her career as a general assignment reporter in April 2005 at WCAU-TV, NBC’s Philadelphia owned and operated station, where she anchored the NBC 10 weekend newscasts. She’s also worked at WLNE-TV in Providence, Rhode Island, and KRCR-TV in Redding, California in the past.

 

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