Advertisement

Meet VP Debate Moderator Elaine Quijano

From Cosmopolitan

Vice presidential candidates Mike Pence and Tim Kaine will face off for the first time Oct. 4. Elaine Quijano, a CBSN anchor and CBS News correspondent, will moderate the live 90-minute debate.

So far this election season, a lot of attention has been paid to the moderators in the presidential debate and forums. Matt Lauer was criticized for failing to fact-check Republican nominee Donald Trump. And when Trump debated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, moderator Lester Holt was accused of being steamrolled.

So, here’s what you need to know about Quijano.

1. She’s the youngest moderator in decades.

At age 42, Quijano is the youngest journalist to moderate a debate on the national stage since Judy Woodruff in 1988 at the age of 41, according to Variety.

2. She’s a Midwesterner.

Quijano grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she majored in journalism. Now she’s based in New York.

3. She originally wanted to be an engineer.

“I kind of lucked into the whole broadcast journalism field, because I originally started off in college as an engineering major,” Quijano said on the Filipinas Magazine Show. “It became very clear to me very early on that was not what I was going to do for a living. So, on a whim, I decided to take this intro to broadcast journalism course, which I loved.”

4. She’s the first Asian-American to moderate a national debate.

Quijano is of Filipino descent, which makes her the first Asian-American to moderate a national debate, according to the Washington Post.

5. She’s the first moderator from a digital network.

Quijano is a correspondent for CBS News and the anchor for CBSN, CBS News’ relatively new streaming service.

“Elaine connects today’s digital audiences with this historic 2016 campaign,” CBS News President David Rhodes said in a press release. “Her perspective, dedication to political reporting, and important role on CBS News’s live-streaming platform make her an ideal choice to lead the only vice presidential debate this fall.”

6. She has a long and impressive résumé as a TV journalist.

Quijano started her career in Champaign, Illinois, in 1994 as an intern, then a reporter. In 1998, she moved to Tampa, where she worked for WFTS-TV. From there, she was hired by CNN in 2000 and moved to D.C. In 2006, she was named as the network’s White House correspondent. Quijano switched over to CBS in 2009. Over the course of her career, she’s covered the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Boston Marathon bombings, Superstorm Sandy, and the World Cup in Brazil.

7. Plus she’s played one on TV.

Earlier this year, Quijano played a news anchor on the CBS drama Madam Secretary, in which Téa Leoni plays a fictional secretary of state.

Election Day is Nov. 8. If you haven't registered to vote yet, you can do so here.

You Might Also Like