On Tuesday, NBC News announced its moderators for the pair of Democratic debates scheduled for June 26 and 27 on NBC, MSNBC, and Telemundo. Predictably, NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie, and Telemundo anchor Jose Diaz-Balart were all named. However, in addition to the journalists, left-wing MSNBC host Rachel Maddow somehow also made the cut.
When the Democratic National Committee decided in February to grant NBC the first primary debate of the 2020 campaign season, Maddow declared how “super excited” everyone was at the network. In an interview with DNC chairman Tom Perez, she gushed: “And I have to say, thank you for picking us to do the first debate. We are super excited about that for June.”
Perez proclaimed he was equally “excited” that Democratic contenders would have “a stage to give their vision of America “ and “confident that the questioners from MSNBC and NBC and Telemundo are gonna give them that opportunity.”
Given that mutual excitement, it’s no wonder NBC picked Maddow to join in the questioning at the debate.
This is actually not the first time the MSNBC host has been tapped to pretend to be a journalist at a debate. When helping moderate a Democratic debate in 2016, Maddow got so excited that she actually hugged both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at the end of the event.
Given the sheer number of Democrats running for president this time around, it may prove a daunting task for Maddow to embrace them all.
