• by Ray Schultz , March 2, 2025

The New York Times has named David Leonhardt, writer of The Morning daily newsletter, as an editorial director of Times Opinion. 

This is Leonhardt’s second stint on Opinion. He served from 2016 to 2020, co-creating the podcast “The Argument.”

Leonhardt will work with Kathleen Kingsbury, Opinion editor, and her leadership team, including Patrick Healy, Meeta Agrawal, Matthew Rose and Brian Zittel.

“As anchor of The Morning, The Times’s flagship newsletter, David has turned it into one of this institution’s most important platforms over the past five years,” Kingsbury writes.

She adds, ”Our newsroom colleagues will have more to say soon about The Morning, which will continue uninterrupted as David takes on his new role.”

Leonhardt is also credited with co-founding The Upshot newsletter.   

“As host of The Morning, David was a key architect of a new front page, one that landed in millions of inboxes every morning and often set the agenda for the day,” says Joe Kahn, executive editor. “David so often sees untold stories or unexplained context that he, in his lucid style, turns into unmissable journalism. We will miss him in the newsroom but look forward to seeing his impact in Opinion.”

Kingsbury acknowledges that “some publications have retreated from having editorials or an editorial board in recent years. A.G. (Sulzberger) and I have chosen to do the opposite. We believe that The Times’s editorial board can be a crucial voice in these challenging times.”