NBC News journalist Kristen Welker at the final presidential debate Photograph:( Reuters )
Welker has been lauded online for her performance as a moderator for ensuring the candidates did not exceed their time limits and not allowing them to talk over her
NBC News journalist Kristen Welker has been labeled the ''clear'' and ''obvious winner'' of the final presidential debate between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
Welker has been lauded online for her performance as a moderator for ensuring the candidates did not exceed their time limits and not allowing them to talk over her.
The 44-year-old was born in Philadelphia and studied at Harvard before becoming a reporter.
There have been more than 125,000 tweets about the NBC journalist, who became only the second black woman to moderate a presidential debate alone, 28 years after ABC News journalist Carole Simpson became the first in 1992.
#Reminder: Only two black women have ever hosted a general election presidential debate.
— Beatrice-Elizabeth Peterson (@MissBeaE) October 23, 2020
Carol Simpson (1992) and Kristen Welker (2020). Wild to believe that there's a whole generation of voters (millennial and Gen-Z) who weren't alive during the 92' town hall. #debates #Debate pic.twitter.com/bzFiIqyOy6
winner of the debate is obviously kristen welker
— b-boy boooo-eebaisse (@jbouie) October 23, 2020
trump cleared the bar for himself, that is, he didn’t rant and rave again.
biden had a very solid performance.
no game changers here in either direction means, i think, that this is a good result for biden.
Welker, known for her calm demeanor and incisive questioning, was helped by the muting of the candidates' microphones when they are not answering questions.
Welker was expected to bring order to the showdown in Nashville, Tennessee, after Fox News anchor Chris Wallace was criticised for presiding over a hard-to-watch bickering fest between the septuagenarians last time out.
Following the debate, when Wallace was asked on air what he thought of the tenor of the final debate moderated by Welker. “First of all, I’m jealous,” he said.
The winner of tonight’s debate is none other than @kwelkernbc. This debate felt normal. #Debates2020
— Omar Jimenez (@OmarJimenez) October 23, 2020
Welker had chosen the six topics for discussion, as tradition dictates. They were: fighting COVID-19, American families, race, climate change, and national security.
Before the debate, President Trump and his entourage had accused her of belonging to the left-wing saying that the parents of the first woman of color to host a presidential debate since 1992 were fervent Democrats.
Welker was registered as a Democrat in 2012 but is not politically affiliated today and has never donated to any party.