A New York Times columnist boasting decades of experience with words is now trying to convince his state that he can put them into action.
On Thursday, the New York Times announced that Nicholas Kristof, a senior columnist in the newspaper’s opinion section, would be stepping down from his role at the paper to pursue a run for Oregon governor. Kristof, 62, has worked at the New York Times for 37 years. Initially starting as a reporter, Kristof would later become an associate managing editor and started his column in 2001.
“This has been my dream job, even with malaria, a plane crash in Congo, and periodic arrests abroad for committing journalism,” said Kristof in a statement. “Yet here I am, resigning — very reluctantly.” Since July, the columnist has been on leave due to the New York Times’s rules forbidding its employees to participate in active politics.
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“Nick is one of the finest journalists of his generation,” A.G. Sulzberger, the New York Times’s publisher, said in a statement. “As a reporter and columnist, he has long embodied the best values of our profession. He is as empathetic as he is fearless. He is as open-minded as he is principled. He didn’t just bear witness; he forced attention to issues and people that others were all too comfortable ignoring.”
Earlier this week, Kristof formed a political action committee, one of the first steps required before running for governor as a Democrat.
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The 2022 race for governor is already being considered by at least six Democratic candidates. These include Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read, state Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, and state Speaker of the House Tina Kotek.
Kristof has won several Pulitzer Prizes for his reporting on the Tiananmen Square protests and the genocide in Darfur. His reporting about the website Pornhub this year discovered that the website was hosting child pornography on its platform. The site increased efforts to moderate its platform and requires those posting content to verify their identities.
