Major MSNBC Anchor Stepping Down: Andrew Mitchell Moving to New NBC News Position

Andrea Mitchell is ending her Andrea Mitchell Reports show almost immediately shortly after a new president is inaugurated in January 2025, the anchor told viewers at the end of a recent broadcast. She’s been on the show for 16 years on MSNBC. Despite her signing off in the winter, she doesn’t have plans to retire. Instead, she will serve as the chief foreign affairs correspondent and chief Washington correspondent for NBC News via an extended contract.

She told The Washington Post that it “such a tough decision,” adding it was one that “I wrestled with this for a long time.” Her decision comes amid her desire to do on-the-ground reporting, which is how she grew to become a famed journalist. The 77-year-old also wants to report in Ukraine, Cuba, and Darfur, Sudan.

“It’s going to be such a big adventure for me,” she said. “I think it’s going to be good for everybody. And I’m really excited about what I can do.”

Mitchell began working with NBC News in 1978 and has spent most of her career as a traveling journalist, including in places currently on her wish list such as Cuba where she interviewed Fidel Castro. 

Rebecca Blumenstein, president of editorial at NBC News, said she welcomed Mitchell’s interest in getting back into the field. “Being an anchor is pretty time-consuming,” she said in an interview. “It’s time that she doesn’t have to be doing reporting that can resonate across NBC.”

She added: “She’s not only tireless; she has an enthusiasm and a drive and a grit to get the story that’s an example to me and everybody here. We covet her, we treasure her, and we’re thrilled that she’s going to be at NBC for years to come.”

Mitchell has interviewed American presidents and foreign dictators. She has a knack for getting the answers she wants, even with tough interview subjects. Blumenstein describes her as “a kind of Svengali-like way to end up in the moment where she needs to be asking tough questions, and not being denied,” whether that’s a peace summit in Washington or a conflict abroad.