Several newspapers that endorsed President Joe Biden over former President Donald Trump in 2020 have not endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 election.
In the 2020 presidential election, Biden received endorsements from major national and regional newspapers, as well as some traditionally conservative publications. The notable show of support from the press for Biden came after four years of Trump in office.
However, many newspapers that endorsed Biden in 2020 have declined to endorse his successor for the Democratic nomination after he stepped down from the race in July. Newsweek took a look at some of the prominent dailies that have not endorsed Harris in 2024.
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The Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times decided not to endorse any presidential candidate this time, reportedly due to its owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, who previously permitted Biden’s endorsement in 2020 but blocked Harris’s in 2024. The Los Angeles Times traditionally supports the Democratic candidate, as it did with Biden.
In 2020, LA Times published an opinion piece by its editorial board titled ‘Endorsement: Joe Biden isn’t just ‘anybody but Trump.’ He’s the right fit for our polarized time.’
The editorial highlighted Biden’s plans for economic and health reform. It said: “This year’s presidential election confronts voters with the most consequential choice they have faced in decades, and for many, their lifetimes: between a divisive, authoritarian-leaning incumbent and a seasoned patriot who brings not only five decades of experience, ability and commitment to American values, but also bold ideas at a time of national crisis. Nothing less than the health of our constitutional democracy is at stake.”
Harris’s hometown newspaper said: “So stark is the contrast between Donald Trump and Joe Biden that we feel compelled to announce our endorsement of the Democratic nominee and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, now, at what is traditionally the beginning of the fall campaign and before the candidates take part in televised debates.”
Executive Editor Terry Tang told the board earlier this month that the paper would not be allowed to issue an endorsement for president.
The LA Times has endorsed the Democratic nominee for president in every previous election since 2008, although it had issued no presidential endorsements for several decades up to that point. The editorial board had reportedly been “preparing” to endorse Harris when the decision to block the endorsement was made.
In a statement emailed to Newsweek in response to a request for comment from Tang, a newspaper spokesperson said: “We do not comment on internal discussions or decisions about editorials or endorsements.”
Mariel Garza, the editorials editor of the Los Angeles Times, resigned on Wednesday.
“I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not okay with us being silent. In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up,” Garza said in a phone call, as reported by Colombia Journalism Review.
Newsweek contacted Garza online outside of working hours on Tuesday for further comment.
The Washington Post
In 2020, The Washington Post endorsed Biden in an opinion piece titled ‘Joe Biden for President’.
“Fortunately, to oust President Trump in 2020, voters do not have to lower their standards. The Democratic nominee, former vice president Joe Biden, is exceptionally well-qualified, by character and experience, to meet the daunting challenges that the nation will face over the coming four years.”
On October 25, The Washington Post announced it would not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election or any future presidential election. “We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” publisher William Lewis wrote.
“We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility. That is inevitable. We don’t see it that way.
“We see it as consistent with the values The Post has always stood for and what we hope for in a leader: character and courage in service to the American ethic, veneration for the rule of law, and respect for human freedom in all its aspects.
“We also see it as a statement in support of our readers’ ability to make up their own minds on this, the most consequential of American decisions — whom to vote for as the next president,” Lewis wrote.
Critics have alleged this decision is to protect The Post owner Jeff Bezos‘ personal interests. According to the Florida-based non-profit journalism school Poynter, “internal and external critics have hypothesized that Jeff Bezos and Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong of the Los Angeles Times are protecting their non-news business interests by pulling endorsements, or hedging in cowardly fashion against retribution against their publications from Trump if he wins.”
Bezos defended the decision in an op-ed, citing general distrust of the media.
USA Today
USA Today took the unusual step of endorsing Biden in 2020, in its first-ever endorsement, in an editorial board piece titled ‘Elect Joe Biden. Reject Donald Trump’. In October 2020, the newspaper stated:
“Four years ago, the Editorial Board — an ideologically and demographically diverse group of journalists that is separate from the news staff and operates by consensus — broke with tradition and took sides in the presidential race for the first time since USA TODAY was founded in 1982.
“We urged readers not to vote for Donald Trump, calling the Republican nominee unfit for office because he lacked the “temperament, knowledge, steadiness and honesty that America needs from its presidents.” We stopped short, however, of an outright endorsement of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee.
“This year, the Editorial Board unanimously supports the election of Joe Biden, who offers a shaken nation a harbor of calm and competence.
“In 2016, we broke tradition in urging you not to vote for Trump. Now we’re making our first presidential endorsement.”
However, USA Today has decided to withhold its endorsement this cycle, citing a commitment to fostering balanced discussions rather than aligning with a specific candidate, reverting to neutrality.
As reported by The Hill, over 200 American outlets under USA Today’s parent company Gannett will not back candidates “in presidential or national races,” according to the newspaper.
“None of the USA TODAY Network publications are endorsing in presidential or national races,” a spokesperson for USA Today told The Hill on Monday.
Newsweek reached out to Gannett via email outside of working hours on Tuesday.
In addition to larger regional and national newspapers not endorsing Harris, despite endorsing Biden in 2020, there are several local newspapers doing the same.
Sun Sentinel
South Florida’s Sun Sentinel, the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Broward County, endorsed Biden in 2020. In an article titled ‘Endorsement: Save our democracy. Vote for Joe Biden’, the Sentinel said: “President Trump is actively working to undermine every major institution in our country… Joe Biden respects our Constitution.”
However, as reported by the Miami New Times, the Sun Sentinel has joined other major U.S. newspapers in not endorsing a presidential candidate in the 2024 election in line with an earlier policy change.
In a post by the Sun Sentinel’s editorial board in 2022, the newspaper said: “The South Florida Sun Sentinel and Orlando Sentinel will no longer endorse candidates in races for governor, Senate or president, including in the 2022 races for U.S. Senate and governor. This is a company-wide decision and very limited in scope.”
According to the Miami New Times, this decision was made “roughly a year after the paper was acquired by Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund.”
Minnesota Star Tribune
In 2020, the Minnesota Star Tribune editorial board endorsed Biden, saying: “Editorial Board endorsement: Biden can reunite, restart America. He’ll return science to the White House and provide smart, steady leadership.”
However, in September 2024, the paper’s editorial board stated: “The newly rebranded Minnesota Star Tribune announced in August that it will not offer political endorsements in the upcoming general election. It was not an impromptu decision to pause our long-standing practice.
“Rather, it is a strategy designed to explore new and creative ways of providing useful analysis to our readers.”
“We will vet the positions and offer policy analysis of the candidates seeking the nation’s two highest offices. We will take note of but forgo staid judgment as to what might qualify as disqualifying campaign behavior. We are confident in the ability of informed citizens to decide whom they wish to vote for based on what they see, hear and research.”
Others
Several other newspapers, such as the Tampa Bay Times and the Omaha World-Herald, also refrained from endorsing Harris despite endorsing Biden in 2020, or declined to endorse any candidate this cycle, reflecting a growing trend among some regional papers to forgo presidential endorsements entirely, accused by some of ‘sitting on the fence.’
Matt Walsh, head of the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University, U.K. told Newsweek: “Some newspapers are refusing to risk endorsing a presidential candidate for two reasons. Firstly, this is a moral failure by newspapers, which are failing their audiences by refusing to make clear judgments about the candidates. But it also demonstrates the increasing weakness of legacy media—newspapers are no longer financially robust and are unwilling to risk losing subscribers by supporting candidates in a polarised election.”