A historically Democratic newspaper has refused to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
The Los Angeles Times, which has exclusively endorsed Democratic presidential candidates since then-Senator Barack Obama ran in 2008, has decided not to endorse either Harris or former President Donald Trump, according to Semafor.
Two people familiar with the discussions told the outlet that executive editor Terry Tang told the LA Times’ editorial board staff earlier in the month the paper would not be endorsing a candidate for president.
She reportedly said the decision came straight from the paper’s owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a doctor who made his fortune in the healthcare industry.
The editorial board was set to endorse Harris for the most powerful position in America when the decision was made, Newsweek reports.
But when the paper published its statewide and national endorsements last week, the only mention of the presidential race was in its first line that said it is ‘no exaggeration that this may be the most consequential decision in a generation.’
Editors did not explain their decision not to endorse in the presidential election, though they noted at the bottom of the page that ‘the editorial board endorses selectively, choosing the most consequential races in which to make recommendations.’
A spokesperson for the paper told Semafor, ‘We do not comment on internal discussions or decisions about editorials or endorsements.’
Yet the decision not to publish a presidential endorsement marks a departure for Harris’ home state newspaper, which has issued them from the 1880s through 1972, when the paper endorsed Richard Nixon for re-election months after the Watergate hotel break in – a decision then-publisher Otis Chandler said he later came to regret.
It began publishing endorsements again, however, in 2008 with Obama’s historic run for president.
Since then, the editorial board has exclusively endorsed Democratic candidates for the nation’s highest office.
But in 2020, Soon-Shiong decided to again overrule the editorial board after it planned to endorse Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic primary.
It would later endorse Biden for president over Trump.
