Young Turks Founder Cenk Uygur Vying for Former Rep. Katie Hill’s Vacant Seat

PLAYA VISTA, CA - MAY 09: Cenk Uygur attends the Young Turks celebration of 1 billion view
Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for The Young Turks
Hannah Knudsen

Cenk Uygur, the founder of The Young Turks, is running for former Rep. Katie Hill’s vacant congressional seat, it was announced this week.

Hill resigned this month after facing mounting allegations of inappropriate sexual relationships with congressional staffers, one of which she admitted to. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Friday set the special election date for the 25th Congressional District seat: March 3, 2020.

Uygur is throwing his hat in the ring.

His campaign website states:

Whether it is reporting on politics on his online media company The Young Turks, co-founding Justice Democrats and electing true progressives to office or founding Wolf PAC, an organization dedicated to getting big money out of politics, Cenk Uygur has been committed to rooting out corruption in Washington, ending the influence of big money on our politicians and fighting for policies that improve the lives of every single American. Now he wants to bring that same fight to Congress for the people of California’s 25th district.

A statement released on Thursday indicated that Uhgur “will no longer have editorial control over TYT, but will continue hosting TYT and other programs,” per TheWrap.

“To streamline the transition, TYT has created an Office of CEO to make strategic decisions for the company that will report to the board, while day-to-day operations have been handed over to Chief Administrative Officer Jack Gerard who has been named the company’s Interim Chief Operating Officer,” the release indicated.

Former Rep. Steve Knight (R-CA), the incumbent who lost to Hill last year, is also running for the seat, it was revealed this week:

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