Who is moderating second 2016 Presidential Debate?
Which journalists have the lucky task of moderating the second presidential debate this year? Here’s what you need to know about the moderators.
During the first presidential debate, NBC anchor Lester Holt had the tough job of trying to moderate and ask questions of presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. However, we won’t see Holt moderating the second 2016 presidential debate, actually. Instead, as announced by the Commission on Presidential Debates, two more people will get behind the desk and start asking the questions.
First, Martha Raddatz of ABC News will co-moderate. She currently acts as the Chief Global Affairs Correspondent and also co-anchors This Week on ABC. You may recall her as the moderator of the 2012 vice-presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan, though she has not previously moderated a presidential debate. (She even got Joe Biden to explain what he meant by the now-famous “bunch of malarkey” comment.)
During this current cycle, she co-moderated a Democratic primary debate as well as a Republican primary debate.
Her partner will be Anderson Cooper of CNN. He currently anchors Anderson Cooper 360° and also serves as a correspondent for 60 Minutes on CBS. This is his first time moderating a presidential debate.
However, he also co-moderated a Democratic primary debate before moderating a Republican town hall during the current election cycle.
This debate will not take the same shape as the first, either. Instead, it will take a town hall format. Raddatz and Cooper will only ask half of the questions. Undecided voters will ask the other half of the questions. Each candidate will have two minutes to respond, followed by an additional moderated minute.
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It will take place at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. The third and final debate will take place on October 19 at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fox News’ Chris Wallace will moderate that debate.