The intrinsic political value of newspaper endorsements is certainly debatable. People don’t necessarily support a candidate simply because their local paper endorses him or her.
When looked at more broadly, though, endorsements can illuminate trends among candidates’ supporters and across elections. Take, for instance, the newspaper endorsements made in the 2012 general election for U.S. Senate between Democrat Elizabeth Warren and Republican Scott Brown, compared with those made in the Democratic primary for the 2013 special election for U.S. Senate between Congressmen Ed Markey and Stephen Lynch.
Note: only newspapers that have endorsed in the 2013 Democratic primary are listed below. (I can’t find 2013 Democratic primary endorsements from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, the MetroWest Daily News, the Quincy Patriot Ledger, the Cape Cod Times, or the Attleboro Sun Chronicle.)
| Newspaper | Warren v. Brown 2012 |
Markey v. Lynch 2013 |
| Boston Globe | Warren (Link) | Markey (Link) |
| Springfield Republican | Warren (Link) | Markey (Link) |
| Bay Windows | Warren (Link) | Markey (Link) |
| Boston Herald | Brown (Link) | Lynch (Link) |
| Lowell Sun | Brown (Link) | Lynch (Link) |
| Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise | Brown (Link) | Lynch (Link) |
| Lawrence Eagle-Tribune | Brown (Link) | Lynch (Link) |
Notice a trend? It would seem that entities preferential to Democrat Elizabeth Warren are preferential to Democrat Ed Markey. Similarly, entities preferential to Republican Scott Brown are preferential to Stephen Lynch.
No doubt, this is indicative of the broader trend that those preferential to a more progressive candidate opt for Warren/Markey and those preferential to a more conservative candidate opt for Brown/Lynch. Practically speaking, Team Lynch may see this as something of a negative harbinger in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, given that the vast majority of people who will turn out to vote in this race likely preferred Elizabeth Warren to Scott Brown.
