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A Portland native will help shape the nation's most influential news organization's editorial coverage of the 2020 presidential race.
In an unusual move, the New York Times announced this week that its editorial page editor, James Bennet, will recuse himself from the editorial page's coverage of the 2020 presidential election.
The announcement came after Bennet's brother, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) announced he would join the large and growing field of candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for president next year.
When he recused himself, James Bennet designated his deputies, James Dao and Katie Kingsbury, to lead the paper's editorial coverage of what is likely to be a contentious primary season and a brutal race between whoever emerges from the Democratic primary and incumbent president Donald J. Trump.
Kingsbury, 40, grew up in Portland before leaving to study at Georgetown University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 2015 while at the Boston Globe for a series of editorials on income inequality.
Kingsbury told the Times she and Dao "plan to decide 'on a case-by-case basis' when Mr. Bennet should step back from editorial board discussions about subjects that may overlap presidential politics," the Times reported.
"'It becomes a little more difficult if we have a piece about 'Medicare for all' — does that fall into the no-go zone?'" Ms. Kingsbury said. 'I personally think 'Medicare for all,' and the question of universal health care, you won't write that piece without discussing the viewpoints of the 2020 field, so he shouldn't participate.'"
