Far-left Los Angeles Times, California’s largest newspaper, has turned its back on Kamala Harris, refusing to endorse her in the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
This stunning break from tradition marks a sharp shift for the paper, which has consistently endorsed Democrat candidates, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden.
This refusal to back their home-state candidate speaks volumes about Harris’s diminishing support, even within liberal strongholds.
The LA Times published its endorsements for congressional and local elections but conspicuously omitted any recommendation for the presidency.
While the editorial board declared this election as “the most consequential in a generation,” their silence on Harris and the presidency was deafening.
Behind this decision, sources suggest, according to Semafor, is the influence of the paper’s owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong.
Soon-Shiong reportedly blocked the editorial board from endorsing Harris. This follows a pattern, as in 2020, the paper intended to endorse Elizabeth Warren during the Democratic primaries, only for Soon-Shiong to veto the decision at the last minute.
Semafor reported:
The paper’s editorial board, which has endorsed Democratic candidates in every presidential race since it first endorsed then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008, was preparing to do so once again this election.
But according to two people familiar with the situation, executive editor Terry Tang told editorial board staff earlier this month that the paper would not be endorsing a candidate in the presidential election this cycle, a decision that came from the paper’s owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a doctor who made his fortune in the healthcare industry.
The paper did not explain its decision, though it noted at the bottom of its online endorsement page that “the editorial board endorses selectively, choosing the most consequential races in which to make recommendations.”
An LA Times spokesperson told Semafor, “We do not comment on internal discussions or decisions about editorials or endorsements.”
Harris’s sharp decline in popularity and credibility is a growing concern for Democrats, particularly when even far-left media outlets like the LA Times refuse to rally behind her.
The newspaper, which had once eagerly backed candidates like Obama, Clinton, and Biden, seems to be signaling that it is no longer willing to attach its brand to the sinking ship of the Harris-Walz ticket.
