Presidential debates are remembered for the candidates’ pithy one-liners. But in the chaotic political landscape of 2024, a simple statement of fact served as the showstopper on Tuesday’s showdown between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born,” said ABC News moderator Linsey Davis in the matter-of-fact style familiar to viewers who watch her on the Sunday edition of “ABC World News Tonight” and her nightly streaming newscast “ABC News Live Prime.”
Her correction was a response to Trump’s claim that the Democratic Party’s support of abortion rights includes “executing” an infant after it’s born, something he has repeatedly said on the campaign trail. In an era in which misinformation spreads fast and furious, Davis’ real-time fact check cut through the proceedings like a sharp blade.
With co-moderator David Muir, Davis had studied hours of campaign rallies and interviews to prepare for the much-anticipated event at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center, and were ready to counter the candidates’ most egregious statements.
Davis, wearing pink glasses while speaking to The Times over breakfast at the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia, said the decision to attempt to correct the candidates was in response to the June 27 CNN debate between Trump and President Biden, whose poor performance led to his exit from the race.
“People were concerned that statements were allowed to just hang and not [be] disputed by the candidate Biden, at the time, or the moderators,” Davis said.
Muir and Davis divided up the topics to study, and Davis fully anticipated that Trump’s erroneous abortion claim would come up when she questioned him on the issue.
“That was an obvious thing to get on the record,” Davis said.
In the weeks before the debate, various scenarios were played out in table read-like settings where the anchors and ABC News producers tested their questions and played out the possible responses.
The critiques of her and Muir’s approach predictably fell along partisan lines. Harris supporters cheered it, while Trumps acolytes on Fox News and other conservative outlets said the duo was piling on the former president and letting his Democratic opponent off easy.
Davis acknowledged that she and Muir could not nail every misstatement. But they did study each candidate’s body of work ahead of time and had an idea of what to expect.
“Politicians tend to say the same things again and again,” Davis said.
To prepare, Davis, a 17-year ABC News veteran, reviewed questions in her head for weeks during her daily runs (she and entrepreneur husband Paul Roberts have competed in half-marathons in 46 states). There was a lot of prayer too.
“My husband said a little 30-second prayer before I left for Philadelphia,” said Davis, a Christian who has written faith-based children’s books. “He was like, ‘God give her the words to say.’ That’s in the Scripture. There were a few praying for, in particular, wisdom, discernment, courage and peace.”
A cousin of Davis set up a prayer meeting on Zoom as well.
Thirty family members showed up in Philadelphia to support Davis. They held a watch party at the Ritz. Her mother, Beverly, was not surprised at her daughter’s steely tenacity.
“When she first learned how to read she said, ‘Mommy, why didn’t you tell me these letters make words?’” she said. “There are times when I have to say, ‘Linsey, this is not a news report, this is a conversation.’”
Davis is set to play a critical role in the future at ABC News.
A University of Virginia grad, Davis toiled for 10 years in local TV news in Syracuse, N.Y.; Flint, Mich.; and Indianapolis before arriving at ABC in 2007 as a New York-based correspondent for NewsOne, the network’s affiliate news service. Her career trajectory changed when Diane Sawyer, anchor of “ABC World News” from 2009 to 2014, was sitting at the program’s assignment desk with Michael Corn, the program’s executive producer at the time.
“We looked up at the silent screens and there was this young woman there, and even with no sound she had such a relaxed but focused connection with the camera and the viewer,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer and Corn looked at Davis’ work (with sound) and immediately enlisted her to work on “World News” as a correspondent. “She is a serious reporter who has respect for the news viewer, and you can feel that,” Sawyer said.
Davis began appearing across the network’s programs, including “Good Morning America,” where she became a go-to correspondent for missing women reports that were a staple of the show at the time and often ended tragically.
“An executive once told me I needed to smile more,” Davis recalled. “I said, ‘Well, everybody’s dead.’”
Her desire to tell more uplifting stories led to a second career as an author. She’s written six children’s books, the latest hitting the bestseller list earlier this year. (She was also motivated as the mother of a now-10-year-old son, finding few titles with young Black boys as protagonists.)
In 2020, Davis became the lead face of the network’s streaming news channel, ABC News Live.
Davis was hesitant to step into the role at first because of the network’s wavering commitment to the service in the past. But growing the streaming channel has become a greater priority lately as broadcast network news divisions can no longer solely depend on appointment viewing for their morning shows and evening newscasts.
Davis’ “ABC News Live Prime” differs from the traditional nightly newscast, with longer interviews and segments, such as a recent eight-minute package on political upheaval in Venezuela.
News divisions have not shared the numbers for their streaming services, though numerous executives say privately they are modest compared to traditional TV.
But Davis knows audience habits have changed. One reason she is willing to work across various platforms, including a daily radio broadcast, is that it’s the only way to reach a mass audience in the a fragmented landscape.
“My parents — who are 79 — their friends say, ‘What happened to Linsey?”” Davis said. “I vanished into the ether, other than one night a week. My niece and nephew who are under 30 watch on their phones and know Linsey Davis.”
Davis did her nightly streaming program live from both the Republican and Democratic national conventions. In Chicago, where the Democrats were gathered, numerous familiar political faces including Rep. Nancy Pelosi were shuttled through the tiny, crowded studio in the United Center where half-consumed meals and snacks shared space with thick black cables.
During a break before the program, Davis talked about the expectations and challenges of being a Black woman journalist covering Harris. Raised in New Jersey where her father owned a construction company and her mother taught high school English, she developed an understanding of the civil rights movement. She couldn’t ignore the historic nature of the vice president’s candidacy.
At the same time, Davis has avoided using her platform for advocacy. There are no hot takes or viral moments marking her career. Colleagues see her as old school in her commitment to fairness and balance.
In the current polarized political environment, Davis had to turn off her social media accounts to shut out people who accuse her of pulling for Harris.
“There is a stereotype that I am acutely aware of that I can’t be unbiased covering this moment,” she said. “And the anonymous Instagram people serve as reminders every day.”
Davis had a friend to lean on as she prepared for Tuesday night. Carole Simpson, a retired ABC News anchor who was the first Black woman to moderate a presidential debate in 1992.
In that showdown, Bill Clinton delivered a knockout blow when he said, “I feel your pain,” to an audience member upset about the economy, while the Republican incumbent George H.W. Bush looked at his watch.
Some viewers blamed Bush’s poor performance on Simpson, saying she was unfair to the president. She received death threats. ABC had to hire a personal bodyguard for her. “People are always going to believe what they want to believe,” Simpson said.
The two first met last year when Simpson was in New York to accept an award. “She followed me around like a puppy,” Simpson recalled. “I call her my anchor baby.”
They have been friends ever since, with Simpson offering notes about her experience on “World News Tonight’s” Sunday edition, a program she anchored for 17 years. Davis takes pride in being a mentor herself, something she did not have early in her career in local news.
“For Black women there was a belief, probably unexpressed, that there was only room for one of us,” Davis recalled. “So the elbows were very sharp for me. I was really disappointed by that. It also made me think, if I ever have a perch, I cannot be like that person.”