Emmy Award-Winning Afro-Latina Anchor To Moderate Republican Presidential Debate

An award-winning Afro-Latina anchor is set to moderate the second Republican presidential debate.

Columbian journalist Ilia Calderón of Univision will join Fox anchors Stuart Varney and Dana Perino as a moderator on Sept. 27, Fox News reported.

The debate will be held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. This is not Calderón’s first time on the political stage. The 51-year-old previously moderated a Democratic event in 2020. Fox News reported she participated in the 2020 primary Democratic debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

Fox News noted that Calderón will be the only Hispanic person on stage at the September political event. As the title of her 2020 book says, it is her “turn to speak.” According to the publisher Simon and Schuster, Calderón’s book “Es mi turno” translates to “My Time to Speak.” According to the publisher’s website, the anchor’s memoir tells of her journey to reclaim ancestry, confront race, and overcome prejudices. A summary of the book reads, “Ilia draws back the curtain on the ups and downs of her remarkable life and career. From personal inner struggles to professional issues—such as being directly threatened by a Ku Klux Klan member after an interview—she discusses how she built a new identity in the United States in the midst of racially charged violence and political polarization.”

The immigrant anchor also speaks about the opportunity that led her to become the first Afro-Latina anchor for a major Hispanic news network in the U.S. Calderón book summary says a “twist of fate presented her the opportunity of a lifetime at Telemundo in Miami, she was excited to start a new life and identity, in the United States, where racial boundaries, she believed, had long since dissolved and equality was the rule.”

The Emmy Award-winning Afro-Latina anchors Univision’s national evening newscast, “Noticiero Univision,” alongside Jorge Ramos.