Washington Post blocks editorial staff from endorsing VP Harris

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. 

According to The Post's reporting, the newspaper's owner, billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, made the decision to end the practice.

"An endorsement of Harris had been drafted by Post editorial page staffers but has yet to be published, according to two sources briefed on the sequence of events who spoke on the condition of anonymity," The Washington Post reported on Friday. 

The Post's Editor-at-Large Robert Kagan resigned from the newspaper Friday over its decision. 

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." 

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."