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Five NBC and MSNBC stars will moderate first Democratic debate

By MICHAEL CALDERONE

Five of NBC, MSNBC, and Telemundo’s stars will be putting questions to 20 Democratic hopefuls later this month at the first presidential primary debate.

The network announced Tuesday that “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt, "Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd, MSNBC primetime host Rachel Maddow and José Díaz-Balart, anchor of Telemundo’s “Noticias Telemundo” and “NBC Nightly News Saturday,” will be moderating the debate to be held in Miami on June 26 and 27.

In recent election cycles, debate moderators have come under increasing scrutiny for both the selection of questions and handling of the candidates. For this widely anticipated first 2020 debate, the network has tapped moderators who are both well-known to viewers of its marquee news and opinion programs, and who have experience on the debate stage.

Holt moderated the first general election debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, while Todd teamed up with Maddow for a 2016 Democratic debate between Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Todd joined Díaz-Balart for a 2016 forum between the two Democratic contenders.

The upcoming debate will air in primetime across NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo, with up to 10 candidates appearing each night. To quality, candidates have had to receive more than 65,000 individual donations or at least 1 percent in three polls. More than a dozen candidates crossed both thresholds, with at least 20 already hitting one of them.

Holt will appear throughout the two hours each night of the debate, while the other four moderators will each get an hour a night. Guthrie and Diaz-Balart will moderate the first hour; Todd and Maddow the second.