Bari Weiss is a disgusting hack, and laughably unqualified, but being a news outlet editor is way more complicated than just rubber stamping factual reporting. Editors allocate resources - from writers and photographers/crews to even start a story, to how the front page is divvied up, how stories are promoted, how many column inches (or words, or minutes) a topic gets.
Point being that there are definitely feelings involved. Even if it's one story is more interesting than another, or we've covered this topic more than enough lately, or this story is factual but not adding anything new, etc. etc. etc. It's a hard job, and more subjective than you'd think, so I don't blame her for being defensive when she's literally the worst editor to ever hold a national news desk down.
I'd vote for AOC a thousand times harder than for Newsom. I'm not sure she actually wants the position though, she's potentially got a long career as a rep (or senator) in front of her and could probably turn into a Presidential candidate in any cycle, but having a major legislative win is bigger than that, according to her