On Friday, Washington Post CEO and Publisher Will Lewis posted a publisher’s note stating that the Washington Post Editorial Board would no longer be endorsing presidential candidates, including in this year’s election. In his note, he wrote: “The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.”

We are deeply concerned that The Washington Post — an American news institution in the nation's capital — would make the decision to no longer endorse presidential candidates, especially a mere 11 days ahead of an immensely consequential election. The role of an Editorial Board is to do just this: to share opinions on the news impacting our society and culture and endorse candidates to help guide readers.

The message from our chief executive, Will Lewis — not from the Editorial Board itself — makes us concerned that management interfered with the work of our members in Editorial. According to our own reporters and Guild members, an endorsement for Kamala Harris was already drafted, and the decision to not to publish was made by The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos. We are already seeing cancellations from once loyal readers. This decision undercuts the work of our members at a time when we should be building our readers’ trust, not losing it.

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