The Los Angeles Times plans to make no endorsement in this year’s presidential race, according to a report in Semafor.
Members of the publication’s editorial board were told that the decision came from the owner of the Times, Patrick Soon-Shiong, Semafor reported. The Times has endorsed a presidential candidate every cycle since 2008, when it endorsed Barack Obama. It was the first time the paper had endorsed a Democrat, and it was their first endorsement since 1972, when it backed Richard Nixon.
A Times spokesperson said, “We do not comment on internal discussions or decisions about editorials or endorsements.” The Times published a list of endorsements last weekend that did not include the presidential race.
Kamala Harris has been endorsed by The New York Times and The Boston Globe, while Donald Trump has been backed by The Washington Times and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Harris has collected far and away more endorsements than Trump, although the value of such nods may be limited. Hillary Clinton was widely endorsed by major publications in 2016 but still lost the electoral vote.
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Still, Trump’s campaign sent out an email trumpeting the Los Angeles Times’ non-endorsement as a snub of Harris, a native of the state.
