Over the last eight years, veteran journalist Michael Wines did some of the most important reporting in the New York Times on the democracy beat. Rather than report on the latest day-to-day political food fights, Michael’s reporting was deep and nuanced on structural issues with American democracy, from gerrymandering, to threats to voting rights, to emerging democratic dysfunction. Michael’s work was never flashy or hyperbolic. He was an old school journalist who demonstrated that showing rather than telling would make for the most compelling copy.

I was always saddened and surprised by how little play Michael’s pieces got on the Times’ own pages, and even when he wrote a major story it often would never appear on the Times’ Politics page, which is what I check each morning for relevant political stories to cover on ELB.

Threats to our democracy are growing every day. And while there is of course so much to cover day to day in political news, Michael’s position on the democracy beat is indispensable for the paper of record. It is crucial that the Times find a journalist of Michael’s caliber to fill his shoes—and this time give the work the placement it deserves.

Best of luck to Michael in retirement. I have always enjoyed my conversations with him and his wry, self-deprecating sense of humor. In his own way, he has been a hero for democracy.