Univision news anchor Ilia Calderón will be co-moderating tonight’s second Republican presidential debate, calling it a “big responsibility to represent all of our community.”
Calderón, in different Univision segments, said she will aim to amplify issues affecting Latinos in the U.S., such as the economy, the cost of living and immigration.
Unsure how to vote in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries? Here’s everything you need to know about tonight’s debate among the GOP hopefuls (minus Trump).
She noted that Latinos come from a range of countries and differ from one another when it comes to religion, cultural traditions and the use of language.
Calderón, recognized as the first Afro-Latina to anchor a major national news desk in the U.S., said she will keep those complexities and voices in mind as she helps steer the conversation.
Co-moderating along with Calderón will be Fox News host Dana Perino and Fox Business Network host Stuart Varney.
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The seven candidates on the debate stage will be: Doug Burgum, governor of North Dakota; Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey; Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida; Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the U.N.; Mike Pence, former vice president; Vivek Ramaswamy, businessman; and Tim Scott, senator from South Carolina.
“We are preparing real and respectful questions,” said Calderón in an interview with the local Univision Los Angeles channel. Univision will air a Spanish-language translation of the debate on its platforms, including on YouTube.
This is not the first time Calderón will moderate a presidential debate. She moderated the Democratic presidential debate between candidates Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden in 2020 in Washington, D.C. During that debate, Calderón asked about the economic impact of the coronavirus and also questioned the candidates on their plans to address the fear of undocumented and legal immigrants in accessing treatment to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Fox Business Network’s Stuart Varney and Univsion’s Ilia Calderón will moderate the Sept. 27 event, but the network’s star anchor Maria Bartiromo won’t be there.
Calderón is a native of the Chocó region of Colombia.
As a correspondent for the Univision newsmagazine program “Aquí y Ahora,” Calderón had a viral video moment with her interview of Ku Klux Klan leader Chris Barker. Calderón stood firm as Barker told her she was the first Black person ever to set foot on his North Carolina property, used a racial slur to describe her and threatened to “burn you out.”
Calderón is being recognized in a new Smithsonian exhibit paying homage to Latina journalists who have become trailblazers in the field.
In 2020, she published her book “My Time to Speak: Reclaiming Ancestry and Confronting Race,” in which she explores her Afro-Latina identity and the discrimination she has encountered in the U.S.
The debate will air on Fox Business Network and Univision as well as on the streaming service Rumble. It will begin at 6 p.m. PDT.
