Bernie Sanders rescinds endorsement of Cenk Uygur for Congressional seat

WASHINGTON – Sen. Bernie Sanders rescinded his endorsement of progressive talk show host Cenk Uygur for a congressional seat Friday following criticism of Uygur’s past derogatory remarks about women. 

Sanders initially endorsed Uygur Thursday for his “strong support” for Medicare for All and said Uygur was “a voice that we desperately need in Congress and will be a great representative for CA-25 and the country.”

Uygur, 49, is the founder of the liberal YouTube political news show The Young Turks and is campaigning to fill the congressional seat recently vacated by Rep. Katie Hill. Uygur endorsed Sanders for both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

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Critics of Sanders’ endorsement, as well as endorsements from Sanders’ campaign co-chair Nina Turner and prominent supporter Rep. Ro Khanna, pointed to several of Uygur’s past comments.

In a 1999 blog post first reported by 

The Wrap, Uygur wrote, “Obviously, the genes of women are flawed. They are poorly designed creatures who do not want to have sex nearly as often as needed for the human race to get along peaceably and fruitfully.”  

In a 2013 episode of The Young Turks, Uygur ranked women on a scale of 1 to 10 based on how likely men would be to have them perform oral sex. 

Sanders wrote on Twitter Friday that he heard his “supporters who were frustrated and understand their concerns. Cenk today said he is rejecting all endorsements for his campaign and I retract my endorsement.” 

Uygur

declared Friday that his marketing campaign would refuse all endorsement transferring ahead.

“I can not inform you how a lot I respect the endorsements of Bernie Sanders, Ro Khanna, Nina Turner and native progressive teams that gave me their assist. Their stance took actual braveness within the face of the company media and Democratic institution onslaught,” Uygur mentioned on Twitter.

Uygur has apologized and disavowed his previous feedback, telling CNN in an interview final month that he whereas he wrote“that stuff 19 years in the past,” he “deleted it 15 years in the past not as a result of I bought caught, or as a result of I assumed any person was going to search out it, I deleted it as a result of I did not imagine it anymore. … This isn’t me. I used to be making an attempt to be a silly, politically incorrect Republican. So I wrote these items I knew have been offensive.” 

The race for California’s 25th Congressional District is turning into crowded. One of many candidates who has filed paperwork to run is former Donald Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

The district encompasses parts of northern Los Angeles County and extends into Ventura County, and was represented by Republicans for more than two decades prior to Hill’s 2018 victory. It is now a hotly contested seat for both Democrats and Republicans leading into the election.

Khanna

tweeted that he is also retracting his endorsement of Uygur, stating that “his statements have been unsuitable and hurtful which he has acknowledged. Real because of all who made their views heard. Lets proceed to combat in a broad coalition for progressive values.” 

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