Davis, Muir and the network’s team of producers and researchers have worked for a month to decide which issues to tackle in the 90-minute political matchup.
“The news cycle is always changing and so you’re throwing out questions, trying to decide what will provide answers to policy issues and the characters of both candidates for those people at home who still have unanswered questions,” Davis said. “Ninety minutes may seem like a long time, but it goes quickly when you’re trying to get to the issues that matter not just to our country, but the world.”
Preparing isn’t all Davis is doing prior to the debate.
“I’m faith-based and I believe in prayer. In the Bible, God would choose some of the most unlikely people to do some really incredible things,” she said. “Prayer calms me and gives me a sense of peace. So for me, it’s been equal parts preparation and prayer.”
Davis, a member of the Theta Kappa chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, says her route to debate moderator was mapped out during a study-abroad semester in London as a third-year psychology student.
“I went to Spain to revisit a Spanish exchange student from high school and I ended up in the apartment by myself, just watching the news in Spanish,” she recalled. “I really should have understood it, but it sounded kind of like Charlie Brown’s mom, ‘waa-waa-waa-waa.’ But as I was watching, I had an epiphany: I said, ‘I want to do that.’ I started having some questions about whether I wanted to become a psychologist.”
After graduating in 1999 with a bachelor’s in psychology, Davis enrolled at New York University and received an internship at ABC News. She graduated with a master’s in communications and continued with the network, rising to anchor.
“I do think that my psychology degree at UVA certainly prepared me. Psychology is really the study of human nature and psyche,” she said. “Getting to know people, getting them to see that I’m a straight shooter and can be trusted, is not always easy and the degree has helped.”
