Skip to main content
In a year when the presidential election has generated unprecedented interest, The Oregonian today told readers it would make no endorsement in the race.
Here's how Oregonian editorial page Editor Laura Gunderson explained the decision.
"Most Oregon voters have already chosen whether they support Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump," Gunderson wrote. She noted that the paper also chose not to endorse a presidential candidate in 2012.
Related: The Oregonian punts on 2012 presidential endorsement.
While it's no doubt true that most voters have picked a candidate in the presidential contest, that's surely also the case in the race for U.S. Senate, in which incumbent Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) faces no serious competition, and even in the governor's race, in which incumbent Democrat Kate Brown faces Republican Dr. Bud Pierce.
Gunderson points out that The O has had no access to Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump and lacks the resources to do original reporting on the candidates.
That hasn't stopped other papers from weighing in, as Mother Jones reports.
And the choice to sit out the race comes just a month after the paper named Gunderson the first female page editor ever with a promised to re-engage with readers, some of whom chafed at the libertarian approach of her predecessor Erik Lukens.
Related: Read WW's endorsement of Hillary Rodham Clinton for president.
"This is an important leadership job—not just in our newsroom but in the community," the Oregonian publisher John Maher told the daily's staff in an email about Gunderson's hiring. "The Editorial Board has to be deeply connected to the community and vested in it."
And when she took the job, Gunderson said she would "seek to increase the level of engagement with readers – both online and in print."
The decision not to endorse has certainly done that—Gunderson's explanation has racked up nearly 900 comments so far.
Willamette Week