The Washington Post Declines to Endorse Harris for President

What is happening?

The Moon is seen as is rises, Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017 in Washington. This full Moon is the first of three consecutive supermoons. The next two will occur on Jan. 1 and Jan. 31, 2018. A supermoon occurs when the moon’s orbit is closest (perigee) to Earth at the same time it is full. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

“On political endorsement,” began Washington Post editor William Lewis on October 25, 2024.

His “A note from the publisher:” caused quite a stir despite its innocuous beginning.

Mr. Lewis was quick to drop the hammer on progressives anxious about Election Day, however: “The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election.”

Could it be possible? For the first time in decades, the Washington Post declined to endorse a presidential candidate, leaving Vice President Kamala Harris out in the cold.

Worse was, perhaps, still to come: “Nor in any future presidential election,” Lewis added. “We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.”

William Lewis then retreated, perhaps a little too hastily, into the safety of ancient history to begin a tortured explanation by way of the WP editorial board circa 1960:

“The Washington Post has not ‘endorsed’ either candidate in the presidential campaign. That is in our tradition and accords with our action in five of the last six elections. The unusual circumstances of the 1952 election led us to make an exception when we endorsed General Eisenhower prior to the…