Los Angeles Times editor resigns after billionaire owner blocks Harris endorsement

The editorials editor of the Los Angeles Times is resigning after the paper’s billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong blocked the paper’s editorial board from endorsing Kamala Harris.

Mariel Garza had already drafted an outline of the editorial board’s planned endorsement of Harris in mid-October when Soon-Shiong intervened. The owner of the paper since 2018 sent a message to Garza via executive editor Terry Tang, saying the paper would not make an endorsement in the 2024 election. Garza said she couldn’t tolerate the move.

“I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not okay with us being silent,” Garza told the Columbia Journalism Review. “In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.”

“The non-endorsement undermines the integrity of the editorial board and every single endorsement we make,” Garza wrote in her resignation letter. “In these dangerous times, staying silent isn’t just indifference, it is complicity. I’m standing up by stepping down from the editorial board.”

The Trump campaign touted the non-endorsement as a “humiliating blow” to Harris in a statement.

For over 120 years, the Los Angeles Times had either endorsed a Republican or no one for president. That changed in 2008 when the paper threw in behind Barack Obama. It’s endorsed the Democratic candidate in every election since. 

Soon-Shiong took to X on Wednesday to defend his move, claiming that he suggested an alternate path to a typical endorsement. He suggested they write a “factual” and “non-partisan” analysis of the candidates, saying they “chose to remain silent.” He did not mention Garza’s resignation.