The New York Times announced Monday that it will no longer endorse political candidates outside of presidential elections.
U.S. newspapers have a long history of endorsing candidates, but The New York Times is moving away from this tradition, joining other publishers such as the Miami Herald and Alden Global Capital, which owns newspapers including the Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and Denver Post.
The New York Times’ editorial director, Kathleen Kingsbury, said in a statement to CNN that the changes are effective immediately.
“While elections everywhere continue to be important to the lives and experiences of our readers, the editorial board will suspend its recommendation process for New York elections,” Kingsbury said in a statement. “We remain a news organization rooted historically, presently and in the future in New York City.”
No reason was given for the sudden change.
The editorial board of The New York Times, part of the newspaper’s editorial department, has long supported local-level candidates in Senate, House and state legislative races.
Perhaps most notably, the paper won’t endorse anyone in next year’s mayoral election, despite having done so since 1897. New York City Mayor Eric Adams will face several rivals, but none of them are endorsed by the paper, creating another hurdle for candidates who want to bring more attention to their policies.
The paper also highlighted the candidate who ultimately lost to Adams by endorsing Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia in the 2021 mayoral primary.
But candidates running for president still have the opportunity to compete for, and potentially win, the highly-regarded newspaper’s endorsement, though it doesn’t necessarily translate to victory.
The liberal newspaper endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, but she lost to Donald Trump. For the first time, it endorsed two candidates, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren, in the 2020 Democratic primary. Joe Biden won the primary and defeated Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
Notably, the editorial board did not endorse Biden’s reelection campaign this year, but instead called for his resignation following his poor performance in the June 27 debate with Trump, who is seeking a second term.
Biden has responded to calls from his party to withdraw his candidacy and has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his candidate to challenge Trump, but The New York Times has not yet endorsed any candidate in the Nov. 5 election.