“How could we spend eight years railing against Trump and the danger his leadership poses to the country and then fail to endorse the perfectly decent Democrat challenger — who we previously endorsed for the U.S. Senate?” she wrote.

The largest newspaper in Harris’s home state, the Times has endorsed a Democratic candidate for president in every general election since Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign.

Newspapers generally have separate, independent departments for news and editorial writing, with the editorial side offering opinions on issues — including endorsements for political candidates — while the newsroom focuses on facts.

In a list of its 2024 endorsements, the Times said that “this may be the most consequential election in a generation,” and added, “We’re not just talking about the presidential race.” That appeared to be the only mention of the presidential race.

The Times and Garza did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Soon-Shiong in a post on social media wrote that the editorial board was “provided the opportunity to draft a factual analysis” of policies supported by each candidate during their time at the White House and on the campaign trail so “readers could decide who would be worthy of being President.” He said the board “chose to remain silent.” He did not mention blocking the endorsement.

After Semafor reported the non-endorsement, Trump’s campaign capitalized on the news, writing in a statement that even Harris’s “fellow Californians know she’s not up for the job.”

California, a deeply blue state, is widely expected to go to Harris in November.

Garza, who joined the Times from the Sacramento Bee in 2015, told CJR that she had drafted an outline of an editorial endorsing Harris and was caught off guard when she learned this month that the paper wasn’t going to take a stance. In the resignation letter, she said that she told herself endorsements don’t matter — particularly in a state like California — and that the paper had practically endorsed Harris already with editorials describing Trump as unfit.

But when she saw the news break without a comment from Times management and saw the Trump team had latched onto the decision, “the reality hit me like cold water,” she wrote.

“Of course it matters that the largest newspaper in the state — and one of the largest in the nation still — declined to endorse in a race this important.”

Soon-Shiong, a Los Angeles-area physician and biotech tycoon, bought the more than 140-year-old Times and its affiliates for $500 million in 2018. He had no previous background in newspapers when he took ownership beyond investing in Tronc, the Times’ previous parent company, and had made his fortune in part by starting and selling biotech companies. The Washington Post reported in 2018 that Soon-Shiong’s political contributions had gone primarily toward Democrats, including Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The Times laid off about 20 percent of its staff this year. The paper reported that Soon-Shiong had made the move after losing “tens of millions of dollars” since the purchase.

This week’s clash is not the first for Soon-Shiong. In the CJR piece, Sewell Chan, former editorial page editor at the Times, wrote that the owner had also blocked an endorsement of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

Garza, in her letter, said the decision to say silent on this presidential race undermines all endorsements the Times makes, because readers “will justifiably wonder” whether decisions were made “by a group of journalists after extensive research and discussion, or through decree by the owner.”