The editor of the Los Angeles Times’ editorials section resigned Wednesday after the paper decided not to endorse a candidate for president in this year’s contest between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not OK with us being silent,” said Mariel Garza in an interview with the Columbia Journalism Review. “In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.”
Garza, who first joined the company in March 2015, revealed that she had already drafted up a Harris endorsement from the board before the decision was made not to formally endorse.
The newspaper began endorsing a candidate in 2008 when they announced their support for Barack Obama. It has never endorsed a Republican for president.
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, took to X on Wednesday night to “clarify how this decision came about.”
“The Editorial Board was provided the opportunity to draft a factual analysis of all the POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE policies by EACH candidate during their tenures at the White House, and how these policies affected the nation,” said Soon-Shiong, in the X post.
Soon-Shiong explained that the intention was for the board to provide “clear and non-partisan information side-by-side” so that “readers could decide who would be worthy of being President for the next four years.” He said that instead of doing that, the editorial board chose “to remain silent,” a decision that he accepted.
A medical doctor by trade, Soon-Shiong invented the cancer drug Abraxane, which has been highly effective against advanced pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, and breast cancer. He is also the founder and CEO of health software company NantHealth and the owner of health startup network NantWorks.
Another one of Soon-Shiong’s companies, ImmunityBio, worked with the federal government on Trump’s “Operation Warp Speed” program to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
Soon-Shiong has owned the Los Angeles Times since 2018. He is also a minority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers professional basketball team.
Garza told the Columbia Journalism Review that the editorial board’s decision not to endorse Harris is “perplexing to readers, and possibly suspicious,” adding that the outlet is a “very liberal paper.”
“I didn’t think we were going to change the outcome of the election in California,” she said.
Before her resignation on Wednesday, the newspaper published an opinion section preview piece in which she said she will be “giving silent thanks to all the brave poll workers across the nation who show up to keep democracy moving” on Election Day.
NTD has reached out to the Los Angeles Times for a comment on this story, but they have not yet responded.