Hillary Clinton endorsed by newspaper that hasn't supported a Democrat in 126 years – and a senator who hasn't for 89

Senator Warner's endorsement will send a message to military voters to back Clinton

Hillary Clinton enjoys post-debate glow while campaigning in North Carolina (Getty)

Hillary Clinton has secured endorsements from some unlikely quarters, including from a usually conservative Arizona newspaper and a Republican who served five terms in the US Senate.

“The 2016 Republican candidate is not conservative and he is not qualified,“ the editorial board of the Arizona Republic wrote, revealing to readers that it was supporting a Democrat for president for the first time since the newspaper’s founding over 125 years ago.

The Republic is not the only newspaper breaking with very long traditions of supporting Republicans, citing distaste for the party’s nominee this year, Donald Trump. The Cincinnati Enquirer and the Dallas Morning News have similarly urged their readers to vote Democrat, for the first time in 100 years in the case of the Enquirer.

In another jolt to party unity, former Senator John Warner, once a towering figure in the Republican fold and a former husband of Elizabeth Taylor, on Wednesday said he was also breaking with a habit of a lifetime and abandoning Mr Trump in favour of Ms Clinton.

“There comes a time where I got to stand up and assert my own views,” he declared, appearing alongside Democrat running mate, Senator Tim Kaine, at a rally in northern Virginia. Senator Warner was for years a key Republican voice on Capitol Hill supporting the US military.

The historic switch by the Arizona Republic is in part a reflection of shifting political sentiment in the state itself. Once reliably Republican it is now considered purple, where 'blue' Democrat support is catching up with 'red' Republican support. With polls showing her in a dead heat with her rival, Ms Clinton has been pouring resources and advertising dollars into the state in hopes of capturing it on 8 November.

Similarly, surveys conducted in a state that has a very high proportion of Latino voters have shown majorities opposed to Mr Trump’s controversial plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and build a wall along the US border with Mexico.

“Since The Arizona Republic began publication in 1890, we have never endorsed a Democrat over a Republican for president. Never. This reflects a deep philosophical appreciation for conservative ideals and Republican principles,” the editorial said. “This year is different.”

While the paper’s support for Ms Clinton wasn’t altogether effusive, it concluded that she, not her opponent, would do a better job of understanding what the state’s voters want.

“The challenges the United States faces domestically and internationally demand a steady hand, a cool head and the ability to think carefully before acting," the board wrote in the editorial which first appeared online on Tuesday. "Hillary Clinton understands this. Donald Trump does not.”

And it was unsparing in its criticism of the Republican nominee. “Trump hasn't even let the American people scrutinize his tax returns,” the endorsement said.

“Contrast Clinton's tenacity and professionalism with Trump, who began his campaign with gross generalities about Mexico and Mexicans as criminals and rapists,” the newspaper said. “These were careless slaps at a valued trading partner and Arizona's neighbor. They were thoughtless insults about people whose labor and energy enrich our country.”

Former US Senator John Warner (Getty)

A former Secretary of the Navy, Mr Warner, 89, said that Mr Trump had been disrespectful of the US military and was completely unfit to be commander in chief. Saying that he considered Ms Clinton to be respectful of the military, he added: “That’s one word that’s totally lacking on the other side.”

“I am proud to have John’s support,”, Ms Clinton said in a statement, “and to know that someone with his decades of experience would trust me with the weighty responsibility of being Commander in Chief.”

Defections among newspapers have also included The New Hampshire Union Leader, which for the first time in 100 years has opted not to back the Republican nominee. In its case, however, the paper urged readers to get behind Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson.

The editorial board of The Dallas Morning News confessed that it had agonised over the decision to support Ms Clinton.

“This newspaper has not recommended a Democrat for the nation's highest office since before World War II - if you're counting, that's more than 75 years and nearly 20 elections. The party's over-reliance on government and regulation to remedy the country's ills is at odds with our belief in private-sector ingenuity and innovation. Our values are more about individual liberty, free markets and a strong national defense,” it said, before adding: “Resume vs. resume, judgment vs. judgment, this election is no contest.”