The first Republican presidential debate will see most of the top candidates duke it out for the first time on the same stage on Wednesday.
Fox News is hosting the debate and has announced Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum as the two moderators for the event in Milwaukee. They have co-anchored the network's coverage of major political events for the past several years, including election coverage in 2018, 2020, and 2022.
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Who is Bret Baier?
Baier is the network's chief political anchor and the executive editor of Special Report with Bret Baier, which airs on Fox News Channel on weeknights. He has been with the network since 1998 and has served in his role as the anchor on Special Report since 2009.
He has previously co-moderated three debates during the 2016 Republican presidential primary and five debates during the 2012 Republican presidential primary. Along with the debates, Baier has hosted town hall events with various presidential candidates, Republican and Democratic, during the 2016 and 2020 election cycles.
Baier has also interviewed the top two Republican presidential candidates, former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), in recent months.
Who is Martha MacCallum?
MacCallum is the anchor and executive anchor of The Story with Martha MacCallum, which airs weeknights on Fox News Channel. MacCallum has been with the network since 2004, previously anchoring other shows such as The First 100 Days in 2017 and America's Newsroom from 2010 to 2017.
She has previously co-moderated two undercard Republican presidential debates during the 2016 cycle for Fox News Channel. MacCallum has also co-hosted town hall events for the network with Baier during the past three general elections.
MacCallum said on Fox News's Sunday Night in America that she hopes they will help give voters a "better sense" of the Republican candidates who will be on the debate stage.
"We really want people to walk away from the debate on Wednesday night feeling like they can have a better sense of all these people and maybe their eyes are open to one or two of them that they want to hear more from. I think that's honestly, that's the main goal, is to move this process forward in a way that people feel is edifying and that they are more interested in the morning after on Thursday," MacCallum said.
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Several of the top candidates, including Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, and Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND), will be at the debate on Wednesday, but former President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he would not participate.
The first GOP presidential debate will be on Wednesday at 9 p.m. EDT, and it will be televised by Fox News Channel.