The New York Times editorial board will publish our choice for the Democratic nomination for president on Jan. 19. It won’t be the first time the paper has endorsed a candidate — we’ve been doing that since 1860. In support of Abraham Lincoln’s candidacy, editors wrote: “Things will go on very much as they have hitherto — except that we shall have honesty and manliness instead of meanness and corruption.”

More than 150 years later, Americans are facing a critical choice. Foreign conflicts are brewing, and impeachment proceedings are unfolding at home. Citizens have the responsibility — constitutionally enshrined, more urgent than ever — to steer the nation’s course at the ballot box. Many candidates have vied for the Democratic Party’s nomination. Each offers a particular vision of the country’s future, and a different set of strengths and solutions each would call on to realize that vision.

The board’s endorsement process is an opportunity to ask hard questions and engage candidates in the kind of prolonged back and forth that reveals insights that don’t often emerge in debates or in campaign appearances.

These illuminating interviews have historically happened behind closed doors. This year, the Times board experimented with a new level of openness. All interviews were conducted on the record. Over the next week, Times Opinion will publish online full and annotated transcripts of the 90-minute endorsement interviews.

The editorial board is a group of veteran journalists. Each member brings years of research, subject-matter expertise and personal experience to the job. Some are former foreign correspondents or beat reporters; one member is a lapsed scientist; another is a lawyer by training. For many, politics is in their blood, and this is the fourth, fifth or sixth election they’ve covered. The board does not collaborate with or speak for the newsroom, in endorsements or any other area of coverage.

Watch a special endorsement episode of “The Weekly” This video excerpt has been edited by “The Weekly.”

Though we each bring a different perspective to these interviews, all of us have done our homework, down to talking to voters at Iowa fish fries and spending hours combing through candidates’ records and policy papers. We’ve also invited a few other writers and editors from our Opinion pages to join the interviews to add to the board’s expertise in specific areas.

James Bennet, the editorial page editor, has recused himself from any involvement in the 2020 elections because his brother, Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, is running for the nomination.

The editorial board met with nine leading contenders for the Democratic nomination in December. Three candidates — Tulsi Gabbard, Michael Bloomberg and Julián Castro — were invited but declined. Kamala Harris dropped out of the presidential race ahead of her endorsement interview. The order of their interviews — and hence the order in which their transcripts are being released — was decided by luck of congressional calendars and airtight campaign schedules.

The board’s pick to be the nominee will be revealed on the Jan. 19 episode of “The Weekly,” The Times’s television show on FX and Hulu. The written version will be published online shortly after and in print the following morning. From Jan. 17 to Jan. 31, a special podcast series will bring listeners into the boardroom to hear from each candidate.

We hope this endorsement process will give readers — and voters — a new understanding of the key issues facing the nation and shaping the 2020 presidential race.