Newspaper editorial board apologizes for endorsing Republican over support for Texas lawsuit

The Orlando Sentinel’s editorial board has issued an apology for endorsing Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) this year after he came out in support of the Texas-led lawsuit seeking to overturn the election results in four key states.

Waltz was one of more than 100 House Republicans to sign an amicus brief this week backing Texas’s lawsuit to the Supreme Court. The suit was filed amid an avalanche of legal losses by President Trump and his GOP allies. The suit sought to challenge the results in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Georgia.

“During our endorsement interview with the incumbent congressman, we didn’t think to ask, ‘Would you support an effort to throw out the votes of tens of millions of Americans in four states in order to overturn a presidential election and hand it to the person who lost, Donald Trump?’ ” the editorial board wrote in the op-ed Friday.

“Our bad.”

The board said it will ask congressional candidates some version of that question in the future, “particularly Republican candidates whose party is attempting to upend the way we choose a president.”

The board said it endorsed Waltz because he had a “strong working relationship” with Democratic colleague Rep. Stephanie Murphy (Fla.) and because it was impressed with his “seeming pragmatism.” 

However, the board said that in hindsight it should have seen “a red flag” when Waltz joined other Republicans in crashing a hearing last year to protest the impeachment inquiry against Trump, with the newspaper saying the incident illustrated Waltz’s loyalty to a president “whose flaws are deep, profound and dangerous.”

The board said that Waltz is “dangerous,” adding that it didn’t know he was willing to “undermine the nation to ensure his political party remains in control of the White House.”

“Everyone who supported Michael Waltz for Congress should feel a deep sense of remorse and regret,” the board said. “We do.”

The GOP congressman tweeted Friday defending his decision to sign onto the brief.

The liberal media wants you to think fighting for free & fair elections will undermine our democracy.

Don’t be fooled, this is democracy!

Proud to join @realDonaldTrump & House colleagues to call for #SCOTUS to hear Texas’ motion & protect our elections.https://t.co/PtpYMlQr50

— Michael Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) December 11, 2020

Waltz responded to the Orlando Sentinel in a Fox News interview on Saturday: “You know what Orlando Sentinel? You can keep your endorsement, I don’t need it and all of the bipartisan things that we’ve worked on that they endorse, I guess are tossed out when you disagree with the mainstream media.” 

“A media that is so in the bag for the other side and has stopped reporting the news, that’s what dangerous to the mainstream media,” he added.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) filed the lawsuit this week seeking to block electors from Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin from finalizing President-elect Joe Biden’s win in those states, saying they unconstitutionally changed election laws to allow for mail-in voting due to the pandemic.

The Supreme Court rejected the suit on Friday evening.

Updated: Dec. 12 at 2:40 p.m.