New York Times editor: Warren, Klobuchar endorsement reflects ‘extremely divided’ Democratic Party

New York Times editor Mara Gay said on Monday that the newspaper’s  endorsement of Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in the 2020 presidential race is reflective of a divided Democratic Party. 

“The party is extremely divided,” Gay said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” 

“This is really our way of narrowing that field, and also just pointing out to voters there is more than one pathway forward here,” she added. 

Gay also said that the board felt that Klobuchar and Warren were “the best standard bearers for those two paths.” 

The Times announced its dual endorsement Sunday night, marking the first time the newspaper has ever backed two candidates in a presidential primary. 

Warren is one of the most progressive senators in the party, whereas Klobuchar is campaigning on a more moderate Democratic agenda. 

Gay also said on Monday that the decision is also “reimagining what electability really means and trying to broaden that vision,”

“The amount of votes that Donald Trump won by in 2016 was extremely narrow, so there’s more than one way to build a winning coalition and that’s a nod to that as well,” she added.

The Times’s endorsement comes two weeks ahead of the Iowa caucuses, which will kick off the primary season. 

The newspaper’s editors argued in their endorsement that Warren and Klobuchar are the strongest candidates in their lanes.  They wrote that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) could be a “divisive” messenger of a progressive agenda. They also wrote that Klobuchar should take control of the moderate lane led by Joe Biden, writing that the former vice president should “pass the torch to a new generation of political leaders.”