Latina anchor Ilia Calderón to moderate GOP debate with Fox News hosts Dana Perino and Stuart Varney

Ilia Calderón, an Emmy Award-winning Colombian Latina anchor for Univision is joining Fox Business anchors Dana Perino and Stuart Varney and Fox News as moderators for the upcoming second Republican presidential debate, the news networks announced Wednesday.

Univision will air a Spanish-language version of the Sept. 27 debate, which will be held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Calderón co-moderated the last 2020 Democratic primary debate between then candidate Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, which was hosted by CNN.

Calderón will be the only Hispanic American on stage among both Republican presidential candidates and moderators.

No Hispanics moderated the first debate, which did not include Miami Mayor and 2024 presidential hopeful Francis Suarez failed to qualify. 

Suarez ended his presidential bid to capture the Republican nomination on Tuesday.

So far, six candidates seem to have qualified for the upcoming debate: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.

Former President Donald Trump would also qualify but he has not committed to participating after having declined the first debate, saying he is so far in the lead there is no strategic benefit for him to do so.

Calderón became the first Afro Latina to anchor a weekday evening news program for a major U.S. network in December 2017.

The Latina anchor was born and raised in Colombia where she started her journalism career. She later  reported for NBC Telemundo News in the early 2000s and then left to anchor for Univision.