WHOA! Kamala Harris Loses a Huge Home State Endorsement

Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris has repeatedly failed to earn the endorsement of reliably Democrat organizations and newspapers this year, and now it's being reported that she's lost the Los Angeles Times endorsement.

The LA Times endorsed her for U.S. Senate over Barbara Boxer in 2016 and endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket in 2020, but they're not going to endorse any candidate this year.

Semafor had the scoop:

Last week, the LA Times published its electoral endorsements for the 2024 election. And while the paper noted in its first line that it is “no exaggeration to say this may be the most consequential election in a generation,” that was the only mention of the presidential race in its endorsements.
The paper’s editorial board, which has endorsed Democratic candidates in every presidential race since it first endorsed then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008, was preparing to do so once again this election.
But according to two people familiar with the situation, executive editor Terry Tang told editorial board staff earlier this month that the paper would not be endorsing a candidate in the presidential election this cycle, a decision that came from the paper’s owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a doctor who made his fortune in the healthcare industry.
The paper did not explain its decision, though it noted at the bottom of its online endorsement page that “the editorial board endorses selectively, choosing the most consequential races in which to make recommendations.”
An LA Times spokesperson told Semafor, “We do not comment on internal discussions or decisions about editorials or endorsements.”

So, what's going on? Most likely, it has to do with Harris' attempt to please both sides with respect to Israel and Gaza. Soon-Shiong's daughter Nika, who we've written about more than a few times here at RedState, is an extreme radical tied to the Democrat Socialists of America and other fringe organizations, and makes her opinions quite public. It's been alleged over the last four years that Nika Soon-Shiong has both engineered endorsements for her preferred candidates and quashed others, but LA Times representatives told Politico in 2022 that "there was no involvement from Nika Soon-Shiong in the endorsements." And, Kamala Harris hasn't done a great enough job appeasing the pro-Hamas wing of the Democrat party, so Nika Soon-Shiong isn't a fan.

Of course, given that the Times is losing $30+ million a year and gave a full-throated endorsement of George Gascón, who's currently down in the polls by 30 points, perhaps Dr. Soon-Shiong is realizing just how out-of-touch his paper has been and is attempting to in some way slow the bleeding.