Advertisement

Woman Will Moderate Presidential Debate For First Time In 20 Years

For the first time in 20 years, a woman will moderate a presidential debate. According to Politico, the Commission on Presidential Debates picked CNN’s Candy Crowley as one of the three presidential debate moderators. It also selected ABC’s Martha Raddatz to moderate the vice presidential debate.

Crowley will be the moderator at the town-hall style debate, so she will not be asking most of the questions herself. Still, the move is a significant step toward greater equality. Though women have moderated vice presidential debates before, this is the first female presidential debate moderator since 1992, and the second ever since the commission was established.

The moderator announcement comes just weeks after three teens delivered to the commission 117,000 signatures asking for a woman to fill the role.

While women will be proportionally represented this election season, though, the lineup is still not diverse. All of the moderators — PBS’s Jim Lehrer and CBS’s Bob Schieffer are the male additions — are white.

Advertisement