The Tampa Bay Times joined a growing number of news publications in announcing that they would not be endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, according to the publication’s editorial board.
In an opinion article, the outlet revealed that while the Times Editorial Board had made political recommendations for “17 Democrats and 13 Republicans across 30 partisan races,” along with candidates in “six non-partisan contests,” there was not a recommendation for a presidential candidate, adding that they “never planned to”:
The Tampa Bay Times Editorial Board also did not make a recommendation for president. But there’s a big difference: We never planned to. Before the primary and general election cycles, the Times Editorial Board discussed where best to apply our time, listed all the races in which we intended to make recommendations and then published that list on the Times website. That list first appeared in July and then updated again in early October for the general election. The list never included the race for president and dozens of other contests. The decision was made months ago.
The decision from the news publication to not endorse a presidential candidate comes as the publication has previously endorsed President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
In the opinion piece from the Times Editorial Board, the publication added that “no one killed” their “presidential recommendation after it was written,” noting that they “never wrote one”:
Local news organization’s constantly decide how to use resources for the most effect. For the Times Editorial Board, the choice not to make a recommendation for president — and dozens of other races — was one of those decisions. No one told us we couldn’t. No one killed our presidential recommendation after it was written. The fact is, we never wrote one and never intended to.
The publication’s editorial board added they could not “think of a single reader who has told” them “over the past election cycle that they needed” help deciding “how to vote for president.”
The Tampa Bay Times joins publications such as the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and USA Today in announcing that they will not endorse either Vice President Harris or former President Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election.
In response to the publications announcing they would not be endorsing a presidential candidate in the election, readers of the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post have canceled their subscriptions.
Washington Post editor-at-large Robert Kagan also resigned from his role with the publication after the paper’s non-endorsement of Harris.
