In the wake of a string of major newspapers’ decision to either endorse only presidential candidates (The New York Times) or not endorse presidential candidates (The Washington Post, L.A. Times, USA Today) after decades of the practice, the Herald’s editorial board felt it important to weigh in on why it does.
Once in a while the Herald’s editorial board receives an “I wait to vote until the Herald’s endorsements come out, and I vote the opposite.” Or, a candidate says, with a slight smile, “an endorsement is the kiss of death.”
Those comments aside, there are numerous indications that endorsements are anticipated and read, as one of many information points people look to before filling in a ballot’s oval.
The Herald has endorsed for years, believing endorsements have value, that they may be the only place that a candidate’s qualities or an issue’s merits are gathered and prioritized. The Herald opinion writers do the research and analysis, and from that make fact-based recommendations.
Readers may not agree with the result, about half don’t given the outcomes, but they can see what the editorial board has determined to be important and decide whether they agree or not. They can mix their own perspectives of a candidate to the Herald’s, adding or subtracting, and reprioritizing.
Endorsements, the board believes, should be applied to the primaries as well as to the November finale. That’s because primary candidates should be applauded or faulted for what they are bringing forward, and that the losers may have in their platforms some initiatives that deserve to continue. The Herald pointing that out can help that happen.
So, consider the Herald as twice endorsing.
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This election is not about differing opinions about the contents of the farm bill or whether solar panel manufacturers should be protected against foreign imports. One candidate has built his campaign around creating fault with all that is taking place in the country, exaggerating and lying at will.
He has an enemies list, including the many of whom know him well, that grows daily. Retribution will be applied, he says. He is threatening violence against “the enemy within,” smearing ethnicities, nationalities, members of the military, American cities and the media – and most dangerous of all, the democratic process – to portray an environment that only he can make right.
For newspapers that have historically endorsed, this is not a time to be suddenly silent. The stakes are too great.
The opinion page editors of The Durango Herald join the Seattle Times, Philadelphia Enquirer and the Houston Chronicle, and others, in endorsing Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for president and vice president. The alternatives will destroy our democracy and the country we know.
