Far-left Los Angeles Occasions, California’s largest newspaper, has turned its again on Kamala Harris, refusing to endorse her within the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
This beautiful break from custom marks a pointy shift for the paper, which has constantly endorsed Democrat candidates, together with Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden.
This refusal to again their home-state candidate speaks volumes about Harris’s diminishing assist, even inside liberal strongholds.
The LA Occasions revealed its endorsements for congressional and native elections however conspicuously omitted any advice for the presidency.
Whereas the editorial board declared this election as “probably the most consequential in a era,” their silence on Harris and the presidency was deafening.
Behind this determination, sources counsel, in line with Semafor, is the affect of the paper’s proprietor, Dr. Patrick Quickly-Shiong.
Quickly-Shiong reportedly blocked the editorial board from endorsing Harris. This follows a sample, as in 2020, the paper meant to endorse Elizabeth Warren through the Democratic primaries, just for Quickly-Shiong to veto the choice on the final minute.
Semafor reported:
The paper’s editorial board, which has endorsed Democratic candidates in each presidential race because it first endorsed then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008, was getting ready to take action as soon as once more this election.
However in line with two individuals aware of the scenario, government editor Terry Tang instructed editorial board workers earlier this month that the paper wouldn’t be endorsing a candidate within the presidential election this cycle, a call that got here from the paper’s proprietor Dr. Patrick Quickly-Shiong, a physician who made his fortune within the healthcare business.
The paper didn’t clarify its determination, although it famous on the backside of its on-line endorsement web page that “the editorial board endorses selectively, selecting probably the most consequential races during which to make suggestions.”
An LA Occasions spokesperson instructed Semafor, “We don’t touch upon inner discussions or selections about editorials or endorsements.”
Harris’s sharp decline in recognition and credibility is a rising concern for Democrats, notably when even far-left media retailers just like the LA Occasions refuse to rally behind her.
The newspaper, which had as soon as eagerly backed candidates like Obama, Clinton, and Biden, appears to be signaling that it’s now not prepared to connect its model to the sinking ship of the Harris-Walz ticket.
