NYT editorial board endorses Warren, Klobuchar for Democratic nomination for president

The New York Times editorial board on Sunday night endorsed both Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) for the Democratic nomination for president.

The dual endorsement, a break in convention for the Times, comes just two weeks before the first primary contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, where Warren has remained a top contender while Klobuchar has struggled to break out of single-digit support.

“In a break with convention, the editorial board has chosen to endorse two separate Democratic candidates for president,” reads the Times’s endorsement.

“Choosing who should face off against [President] Trump also means acknowledging that Americans are being confronted with three models for how to govern this country, not two. Democrats must decide which of their two models would be most compelling for the American people and best suited for repairing the Republic,” it continues. “That’s why we’re endorsing the most effective advocates for each approach. They are Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar.”

The endorsement comes for Warren as her campaign has faced a new challenge from a surging Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), whose campaign recently locked down a number of high-profile endorsements from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).

Warren and Sanders also clashed onstage at last week’s CNN debate in Des Moines over whether Sanders had told Warren that a woman could not be elected president in the U.S.

In their endorsement, the Times’ editorial board wrote that Warren could serve as a vehicle for progressives who worry that Sanders’s message is too divisive.

“There are plenty of progressives who are hungry for major change but may harbor lingering concerns about a messenger as divisive as Mr. Sanders. At the same time, some moderate Democratic primary voters see Ms. Warren as someone who speaks to their concerns about inequality and corruption. Her earlier leaps in the polls suggest she can attract more of both,” the Times wrote.

The Times’ editors wrote of Klobuchar that the Minnesota senator should take control of the centrist lane currently headed by former Vice President Joe Biden, whom the Times advised should “pass the torch to a new generation of political leaders.”

Klobuchar, they added, “is the very definition of Midwestern charisma, grit and sticktoitiveness. Her lengthy tenure in the Senate and bipartisan credentials would make her a deal maker (a real one) and uniter for the wings of the party — and perhaps the nation.”

The Times previously endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the eventual winner of the Democratic nomination in 2016, before going on to endorse her in the general election as well.

The Times ended its endorsement Sunday night with a call for voters to rally behind whichever woman they thought best represented their values: “Ms. Klobuchar and Ms. Warren right now are the Democrats best equipped to lead that debate. May the best woman win.”