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---
title: Presidential Debates: Donald Trump Is Wrong on Lester Holt
description: Republican nominee Donald Trump called first presidential debate moderator &quot;a Democrat&quot; despite public records that indicate otherwise.
canonical: https://time.com/4501616/donald-trump-debate-lester-holt-democrat/
author: Zeke Miller
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article:content_tier: free
article:published_time: 2016-09-20T18:40:05.000Z
article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:43:05.105Z
article:section: Politics
og:title: Trump Inaccurately Calls Debate Moderator a &#x27;Democrat&#x27;
og:description: He&#x27;s actually a registered Republican.
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og:image:alt: debate-moderators
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twitter:card: summary_large_image
twitter:title: Trump Inaccurately Calls Debate Moderator a &#x27;Democrat&#x27;
twitter:description: He&#x27;s actually a registered Republican.
twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e99c4a487b267db/6988a4b8fb4eac442c88ef96/debate-moderators.jpg?branch=production&amp;width=1200&amp;quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;crop=16:9
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![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e99c4a487b267db/6988a4b8fb4eac442c88ef96/debate-moderators.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)


# Donald Trump Called Debate Moderator Lester Holt a Democrat. He's Actually a Republican.

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by 

[Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/)


## Zeke Miller


Sep 20, 2016 6:40 PM UTC

![Lester Holt, Martha Raddatz, Anderson Cooper, and Chris Wallace.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e99c4a487b267db/6988a4b8fb4eac442c88ef96/debate-moderators.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=3:2)

Lester Holt, Martha Raddatz, Anderson Cooper, and Chris Wallace.

Lester Holt, Martha Raddatz, Anderson Cooper, and Chris Wallace.Getty Images

by 

[Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/)


## Zeke Miller


Sep 20, 2016 6:40 PM UTC

Republican nominee Donald Trump called first presidential debate moderator, NBC News anchor Lester Holt, “a Democrat” Monday, despite public records that indicate otherwise.

New York State voter registration documents show that Holt has been a registered Republican in the state since 2003.

Trump’s comments to Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, which were offered without any evidence to support the claim, are part of a time-honored tradition of alleging moderator bias and expectations-setting before a presidential debate.

“By the way, Lester is a Democrat. It’s a phony system. They are all Democrats. It’s a very unfair system,” Trump said of the debate moderators.

The NBC newsman, regarded by both parties as a straight shooter, is set to moderate the first debate on Sept. 26.

Trump has not been alone in criticizing the objectivity of debate moderators. Hillary Clinton’s campaign sent out a pair of fundraising appeals off NBC anchor Matt Lauer’s performance anchoring a back-to-back candidate town hall earlier this month.

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, who is set to moderate the third debate, is a longtime registered Democrat, which he has [explained](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001509.html) as a matter of pragmatism as a resident of Democrat-dominated Washington, D.C. Public records searches for the remaining debate moderators returned no partisan affiliation.

Spokespeople for NBC did not respond to requests for comment on Trump’s attack or Holt’s voter registration.

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