Presidential debates are often remembered for the candidates’ crucial one-liners. But in the chaotic political landscape of 2024, a simple statement of fact became the deciding factor in Tuesday’s showdown between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it is born,” ABC News host Lindsay Davis said in a matter-of-fact tone familiar to viewers who tune in to her Sunday edition of “ABC World News Tonight” and her evening streaming news show, “ABC News Live Prime.”
Her correction was a response to Trump’s assertion that Democrats’ support for abortion rights includes the “execution” of babies after birth — a line he has repeatedly made during the campaign. In an era when misinformation spreads fast and ferociously, Davis’ real-time fact-check cut through the proceedings like a sharp blade.
Davis, along with co-host David Muir, had spent hours studying campaign rallies and interviews in preparation for the highly anticipated event at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, and they were ready to refute the candidates’ most damning statements.
Speaking to The Times over breakfast at the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia, Davis, wearing rose-tinted glasses, said the decision to try to amend the nomination was in response to the June 27 CNN debate between President Trump and President Biden, and that Biden’s poor performance led him to drop out of the race.
“People were concerned that the statements would just be withheld and not be discussed by then-candidate Biden or the moderator,” Davis said.
Muir and Davis split research topics, with Davis fully expecting Trump’s false abortion claims to come up when she questioned him on the issue.
“It was a given that it would go on the record,” Davis said.
In the weeks before the debate, different scenarios were run in a table-reading-like setting, where the anchors and ABC News producers tested questions and presented possible answers.
Criticism of her and Muir’s approach has been predictably partisan: Ms. Harris’s supporters have welcomed it, but Trump acolytes at Fox News and other conservative outlets have said the pair are blasting the former president and reassuring her Democratic opponents.
Davis acknowledged that she and Muir couldn’t debunk every false statement, but they studied each candidate’s body of work beforehand and had an idea of what to expect.
“Politicians tend to repeat the same things over and over again,” Davis said.
To prepare, Davis, a 17-year veteran of ABC News, spent weeks going over questions in her head during her daily runs. (She and her entrepreneur husband, Paul Roberts, have run half marathons in 46 states.) There was also a lot of prayer.
“Before we left for Philadelphia, my husband said a 30-second prayer for me,” said Davis, a Christian who writes faith-based children’s books. “He was like, ‘God, give her the words to say.’ It’s found in the Bible. Several of us specifically prayed for wisdom, insight, courage and peace.”
Davis’ cousin also set up a prayer group on Zoom.
Thirty family members showed up in Philadelphia to support Davis; they hosted a watch party at the Ritz. Her mother, Beverly, wasn’t surprised by her daughter’s steely tenacity.
“When she first learned how to read, she said, ‘Mom, why didn’t you tell me these letters were words?'” she said. “There are times when I have to say, ‘Lindsay, this isn’t a news report, this is a conversation.'”
Davis will play a key role at ABC News in the future.
A graduate of the University of Virginia, Davis spent 10 years working in local television news in Syracuse, New York; Flint, Michigan; and Indianapolis before joining ABC in 2007 as a New York-based correspondent for the network’s affiliate news service, NewsOne. The trajectory of her career changed when Diane Sawyer, who anchored “ABC World News” from 2009 to 2014, sat at the show’s desk alongside Michael Cohn, who was then the show’s executive producer.
“We looked up at the silent screen and there was a young woman there. Even though there was no sound, she had a very relaxed yet focused connection with the camera and the audience,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer and Cohn saw Davis’ work (with audio) and quickly recruited her to work at World News as a correspondent. “She’s a serious reporter who respects her news audience, and that comes across,” Sawyer said.
Davis began appearing on the network’s shows, including “Good Morning America,” and became the go-to correspondent for the disappearances of women 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 recalls. “I said, ‘Well, everyone’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 most recent of which hit the bestseller list earlier this year. (She’s also an ambitious mother to a now-10-year-old son, and there were few books with black boys as protagonists.)
In 2020, Davis became the lead face of the network’s streaming news channel, ABC News Live.
Davis was initially hesitant to step into the role because of the network’s shaky past commitment to the service, but growing streaming channels has become more of a priority in recent times as broadcast network news divisions can no longer rely solely on appointment viewing for their morning shows or evening newscasts.
Davis’ “ABC News Live Prime” differs from a traditional nightly news show in that it includes longer interviews and segments, such as a recent eight-minute package about the political turmoil in Venezuela.
News divisions don’t disclose figures for their streaming services, but many executives have said privately that they are modest compared with traditional TV.
But Davis knows audience habits are changing, and one of the reasons she’s willing to work across platforms, including a daily radio broadcast, is because it’s the only way to reach a large audience in a fragmented landscape.
“My parents’ (79-year-old) friends are saying, ‘What happened to Lindsay?'” Davis said. “I’ve vanished into thin air except for one night a week. My nieces and nephews under 30 look at their phones and know who Lindsay Davis is.”
Davis streamed an evening live from both the Republican and Democratic national conventions, with Democrats gathering in Chicago and many familiar political faces, including House members Nancy Pelosi, who was shuttled around the tiny, crowded studio at the United Center, where half-eaten meals and snacks shared the space with thick, black cables.
During a break before the show, Davis spoke about the expectations and challenges of being a black woman journalist covering Harris. Growing up in New Jersey, where her father ran a construction company and her mother taught high school English, she developed an appreciation for the civil rights movement. She couldn’t ignore the historic nature of the vice presidential run.
At the same time, Davis has shied away from using her platform for advocacy — there have been no high-profile or high-profile moments to define her career — and colleagues view her as old-fashioned in her emphasis on fairness and balance.
In today’s polarized political environment, Davis has had to turn off her social media accounts to block out people who criticize her for supporting Harris.
“I’m painfully aware that there are stereotypes that prevent us from covering this moment fairly,” she said, “and anonymous people on Instagram serve as daily reminders.”
Davis had a friend she could rely on as she prepared for Tuesday night: Carol Simpson, the former ABC news anchor who was the first Black woman to moderate a presidential debate in 1992.
In that showdown, while Republican incumbent George H.W. Bush watched his watch, Bill Clinton delivered the knockout blow by telling an audience shaken by the economic situation, “I feel your pain.”
Some viewers blamed Simpson for Bush’s poor performance and claimed she was unfair to the president. She received death threats. ABC had to hire a personal bodyguard for her. “People will always 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’ve remained friends ever since, with Simpson providing notes about his experiences on “World News Tonight,” the Sunday edition of the show he anchored for 17 years. Davis prides himself on being a mentor, but he didn’t have one early on in his career in local news.
“There was a belief among black women, maybe unexpressed, that there was only room for one of us,” Davis recalled. “So the elbow was very sharp for me. It was really disheartening. And I also thought, even if I had a perch, I could never be like that person.”
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