WASHINGTON — The Washington Post will no longer endorse candidates, blocking its editorial staff Thursday from publicly throwing the newspaper's support behind Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.
In an op-ed, Washington Post CEO William Lewis said the paper would also not make endorsements in future presidential elections.
"We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates," Lewis said, citing an editorial board statement from 1960 that opposed the practice.
With the exception of 1988, The Washington Post, has endorsed candidates in every U.S. presidential election since 1976, when the editorial staff endorsed Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter in his race against Republican President Gerald Ford.
Eleven Washington Post columnists responded Friday night to the paper's decision to block their endorsement of Harris, condemning former President Donald Trump as a threat to the freedom of press.
"The Washington Post's decision to not make an endorsement in the presidential campaign is a terrible mistake," columnists wrote on Friday. "This is a moment for the institution to be making clear its commitment to democratic values, the rule of law and international alliances, ad the threat Donald Trump poses to them -- the precise points The Post made in endorsing Trump's opponents in 2016 and 2020."
The Post's Editor-at-Large Robert Kagan had resigned from the newspaper Friday over the decision to not endorse.
Marty Baron, who was the executive editor for The Post from 2001 to 2021, criticized the decision on social media.
"This is cowardice, with democracy as its casualty," Baron said on Thursday. "Donald Trump will see this as an invitation to further intimidate owner Jeff Bezos (and others). Disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage."
The Washington Post Guild, a union that represents workers at The Post also criticized the paper's decision.
"The role of an Editorial Board is to do just this: to share opinions on the news impacting our society and culture and endorse candidates to help guide readers," the union said on Friday. "The Message from our chief executive, Will Lewis -- not from the Editorial Board itself -- makes us concerned that management interfered with the work of our members in Editorial ... an endorsement was already drafted."
On Wednesday, The Los Angeles Times' Owner Patrick Soon-Shiong also blocked its editorial board's plan to endorse Vice President Harris for president.
As a result of Soon-Shiong's decision, three editorial staffers resigned on Thursday from the paper.
The Los Angeles Times has the largest distribution of any local newspaper in California.
The Post's reporting in the 1970s was crucial in bringing the Watergate scandal to light and the 1976 U.S. Presidential Election was the first race to take place after President Richard Nixon resigned as a result of investigations into the president's role in Watergate.
Since endorsing Carter, The Washington Post has only endorsed Democratic candidates for president. Most recently, in 2020, The Post's editorial staff endorsed Joe Biden in his race against Donald Trump.
"Our job at The Washington Post is to provide, through the newsroom, nonpartisan news for all Americans," Post CEO Lewis said Friday. "Our job as the newspaper of the capital city of the most important country in the world is to be independent. And that is what we are and will be."
