Chuck Todd was born on April 8, 1972 in Miami, Florida. Chuck is an American television journalist who is current moderator of NBC's Meet the Press. He is also the host MTP Daily on MSNBC and the Political Director for NBC News.
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Upbringing
Lois Cheri and Stephen Randolph Todd were blessed with a son in the form of Chuck Todd on. He grew up with a Jewish upbringing. He graduated from Miami Killian Senior High School, he then attended George Washington University, however, he did not graduate from college. Todd was attending the university on a music scholarship and was an expert in playing the French horn. He majored in political science and minored in music.
Journalism Career
Chuck Todd started his career while he was still in college working for the 1992 presidential campaign of Senator Tom Harkin. Later that year he started a part-time job at The Hotline. Until March 12, 2007, Todd worked for National Journal's The Hotline, where he was editor-in-chief for six years.
In March 2007, besides working for The Hotline, Todd added to his resume, the position of political director for NBC. He reached that role with the help of Tim Russert. Todd became one of Washington’s foremost experts on political campaigns of all levels after working 15 years at The Hotline.
Todd is an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University. He is also the author of “The Stranger: Barack Obama in the White House”. The book was published in 2014, the Chicago Tribune described the book as "richly sourced and deeply informed." Todd is also the co-author, with Sheldon Gawiser, of How Barack Obama Won: A State-by-State Guide to the Historic 2008 Presidential Election, published in 2009.
On July 23, 2015, MSNBC announced Todd would return to their network with a daily political show focusing on the 2016 presidential election.
Currently Chuck Todd is the moderator of ‘Meet the Press’ and political director for NBC News. He serves as on-air political analyst for Nightly News with Lester Holt and TODAY. He is also the editor of First Read, NBC’s must-read guide to political news.
Chuck has a goatee and speaks in a direct, conversational manner, without punchy diction or pomposity. This demeanor has gained him a lot of respect in the news media.
Defending His Wife
Todd attacked Fox News for not doing anything about Sean Hannity after it was exposed that Hannity was a client for Donald Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen. He felt that there was a conflict of interest because Hannity would have a bias towards Trump during his broadcasts on Fox News.
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After Todd went public with his comments, Sean Hannity was offended and struck back against Todd. Instead of talking about the issue on hand, Sean decided to get personal and mentioned that Todd’s wife had worked with Democrats in her past consulting work.
In an interview with WABC-770 AM morning hosts Sid Rosenberg and Bernard McGuirk. Todd said, “Sean and I, I thought, had a very nice, cordial, personal relationship. It’s always bothered me he has gone personal at me. I have never gone personal at him. And he’s gone heavy personal at me in ways that I thought were unprofessional. That’s fine. That’s his decision to do that. Because he’s bringing my wife into this, what is her business — what is it his business what she does? I don’t control her political opinions and she doesn’t control mine. I really — just think about that: You’re trying to sully me because my wife is an individual thinker in her life? I don't take Hannity's "criticism that seriously. My point is that if you look at how Sean Hannity has treated me over the last four or five years publically, then you’ll see why I just don’t take his criticism that seriously. Everything about my wife and her work and her relationship to me — it’s all on the internet because I’ve publicly said something at various times when I felt that it was necessary."
Feud With Trump
Donald Trump called Todd a “sleeping son of a bitch” during a campaign rally Saturday. It was part of an attack that Trump launched on news media to try increase voter support for him.
Todd appeared on NBC4 in Washington, D.C to respond to Trump’s comments, “I bring my kids up to respect the office of the presidency and the president. I don’t allow them to say anything negative, ever, about the president. It creates a challenge to all parents when he uses vulgarities like that. I sort of have the military rule in my house: You don’t speak ill of the sitting president. Don’t miss @MeetThePress tomorrow! I know folks may be tired in the morning due to springing forward, so set those clocks and DVRs now before your eyes get too sleepy. This is exactly the presidency he said he was going to have, that he was going to do things differently, disrupt Washington, make the establishment crazy, make the media angry. Yesterday’s rally was sort of him unleashed.”
Todd has stated how hard it is judge the work of journalists who are covering the Trump administration, “I look at the coverage of the Trump era in this respect: for us in the media, don’t just us right now how we’re doing. Don’t judge us even in five months. I would say judge us in five years. In five years we’ll know if we did this right or wrong.”
Awards
In 2001, George Magazine named Todd one of the 50 most influential people in politics. In 2005, The Washingtonian featured him in its “Best of” issue in the journalism section. In 2009, the magazine named him one of the top 50 journalists covering Washington. In January 2012, GQ Magazine named Todd as "The Most Powerful Journalist in Washington," A Star in Political Journalism.
Married Life
Chuck Todd resides with his wife Kristian Denny Todd in Arlington, Virginia. The couple has two children, one daughter and one son. Their daughter’s name is Margaret Todd and their son’s name is Harrison Todd.
Last Modified: Apr 8, 2020
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