Mr. Boas of The Arizona Republic said he expected “a lot of cancellations,” pointing to cancellations at The Cincinnati Enquirer, which like The Republic, is owned by Gannett. 
 
 But he said financial considerations were “never a factor” for the newspaper’s nine-person editorial board. “It was more of a curiosity,” he said. “We know we’re doing the right thing. We feel very good about this decision.” 
 
 The endorsement of Mrs. Clinton would probably not have come as a surprise to the paper’s faithful readers, he said. The paper had already written several cautionary editorials about Mr. Trump, including one last November, when a black protester was beaten at one of Mr. Trump’s rallies in Birmingham, Ala. It also ran an editorial after Mr. Trump mocked a New York Times reporter with a disability. 
 
 “Trump through the primary and into the general did a half dozen things that we believe would have been disqualifiers in years past,” Mr. Boas said. “We think that we are being traditionalists here. We’re saying we’re not willing to compromise our values.” 
 
 The decision to endorse a Democrat, however, was not taken lightly. The newspaper did not have a record of its endorsements, and it hired a researcher to determine when it had last supported a Democratic presidential candidate over a Republican. A historian was brought on to review the researcher’s work. When they found out the paper had never endorsed a Democrat, Mr. Boas said, “It was a real surprise.” 
 
 But in the end, he said, the editorial board’s decision was not contentious. “We’re never in unison on anything, but it wasn’t a difficult thing,” Mr. Boas said. “It was the kind of thing that just evolved over time.” 

 Ariz. paper faces threats, loses subscribers after Clinton endorsement 
 
 CLOSE The Arizona Republic announces its editorial board presidential endorsement for 2016. The Republic 
 
 The Arizona Republic is suffering some major blowback for its decision to back a Democrat over a Republican in a presidential campaign for the first time since its founding in 1890. 
 
 Since the paper published its endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president, it has faced a steady stream of subscription cancellations and even a death threat, according to a senior editor. 
 
 "Well, it's been crazy around here," said Phil Boas, who runs the paper's editorial page. "We're getting a lot of reaction both locally and national. I don't believe true readers of the editorial page are surprised by all this at all, because over the past year we have been writing scathing, scalding articles about Donald Trump." 
 
 "We're feeling the weight of our history," Boas told The New York Times of the paper's first endorsement of a Democratic Party candidate in 126 years. 
 
 "This year is different," the editorial says. "The 2016 Republican candidate is not conservative and he is not qualified. That’s why, for the first time in our history, The Arizona Republic will support a Democrat for president." 
 
 The paper cites Trump's "inability to control himself," his "long history of objectifying women" and his lack of presidential temperament as reasons for its inability to endorse him. 
 
 The Republic is not the first paper to break with a long tradition of endorsing Republican candidates because of Donald Trump. The Cincinnati Enquirer, which has "supported Republicans for president for almost a century," endorsed Clinton and called Trump a "clear and present danger to our country." The Cincinnati Enquirer and Arizona Republic are both owned by Gannett, which also owns USA TODAY. 
 
 And The Dallas Morning News, which hadn't endorsed a Democrat since before World War II, said Trump "plays on fear — exploiting base instincts of xenophobia, racism and misogyny — to bring out the worst in all of us, rather than the best." 
 
 The Dallas Morning News has also suffered a loss of subscribers, news editor Mike Wilson told Poynter. "Certainly we've paid a price for our presidential recommendation, but then, we write our editorials based on principle and sometimes principle comes at a cost," he said. 
 
 Boas told the Times that the potential loss of customers never influenced the decision to back Clinton. "We know we're doing the right thing," he said. "We feel very good about this decision." 
 
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– The Arizona Republic—which was founded as the Arizona Republican in 1890, 22 years before Arizona became a state—broke with 126 years of history Wednesday by endorsing a Democrat over a Republican for president for the first time. "This year is different," the paper's editorial board wrote, citing Donald Trump's "deep character flaws" and questioning his conservatism. Hillary Clinton is a flawed candidate, but she is competent and does not "casually say things that embolden our adversaries and frighten our allies," the board wrote. "Her approach to governance is mature, confident, and rational." The paper—which endorsed Benjamin Harrison in 1892 and carried on endorsing Republicans through to Mitt Romney in 2012, though it refused to endorse either Nixon or LBJ in 1968—faced a major backlash after the Clinton endorsement, with plenty of angry phone calls, subscription cancellations, and even a death threat, USA Today reports. Other papers, including the Cincinnati Enquirer, lost subscribers after failing to endorse Trump, but Republic editorial page editor Phil Boas says he believes the board made the right decision. "We think that we are being traditionalists here. We're saying we're not willing to compromise our values," he tells the New York Times.