When Tim Kaine and Mike Pence take the stage for their first and only vice presidential debate Tuesday night, CBSN’s Elaine Quijano will be asking the questions. The debate marks the first time a digital network anchor has been selected to moderate a a national debate during a general election presidential campaign, and there are some other things to know about Quijano, too:
The CBSN anchor and moderator, who is a second-generation Filipino-American, is also the first Asian-American journalist to moderate a national debate. Further, at 42 years of age, Quijano will be the youngest debate moderator since then-CNN anchor and correspondent Judy Woodruff moderated a debate in 1988, when she was 41, according to Variety.
- Quijano is a New York-based CBSN anchor, CBS News correspondent and anchor of “CBS Weekend News.” Quijano hails from Chicago, and went to school at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (she started out as an engineering major before switching to journalism).
- Since joining CBS News in 2010, Quijano has covered the 2012 Newtown massacre, the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and Superstorm Sandy. Before coming to CBS, she worked as a Washington, D.C.-based correspondent at CNN where she was a White House correspondent during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, and also covered the Supreme Court and Pentagon.
- “Elaine connects today’s digital audiences with this historic 2016 campaign,” CBS News President David Rhodes said in a statement last month. “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.
The second presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will take place Sunday in a town hall-style meeting and will be moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and ABC News’ Martha Raddatz at Washington University in St. Louis.