Topline
Cenk Uygur, the creator of the progressive news commentary show The Young Turks, announced Wednesday he’s running for president as a Democrat in a long shot effort of defeating President Joe Biden, whom Uygur said in an announcement would lose the presidential election.
Uygur is the creator of The Young Turks. (Photo By Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
Key Facts
Uygur, who called himself a “break glass in case of emergency” candidate, said Biden needs to quit the presidential race because he “has at best a 10% chance of winning” against former President Donald Trump.
Uygur is running as a “proxy” candidate for Democratic challengers to Biden, saying the sitting president would be a villain if he continues to run for president and loses.
Uygur, a naturalized citizen who immigrated from Turkey to the U.S. in 1978, believed the natural born citizen requirement needed to run for president wouldn’t disqualify him, saying a dispute over matter would reach the Supreme Court, according to Semafor.
The commentator is running on a platform not unlike that of Biden’s, telling Semafor he’d fight for policies like higher minimum wages, a “public option” for healthcare and paid family leave.
Uygur called Trump a “fascist” and “pathetically weak” and said in his campaign announcement the fate of democracy is at risk in the upcoming election.
Crucial Quote
“It should not have been me, it should have been someone else, but it was unfortunately not anyone else,” Uygur said.
Key Background
Uygur is best known for creating The Young Turks. The commentator show has been on YouTube since the platform’s earliest days and currently has 5.6 million subscribers. Uygur first ran for office in 2020, making a bid for Congress in southern California that resulted in him raking in 6.6% of the vote—30% less than former California assemblywoman Christy Smith, the winner of the nonpartisan primary. His announcement comes as polling consistently shows Democrats would prefer Biden not to run in 2024 and as Biden narrowly trails Trump in 2024 general election polling, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling average.
Tangent
Uygur is the uncle of Hasan Piker, a progressive political commentator with more than 1 million subscribers on YouTube and 2.5 million followers on livestreaming platform Twitch.
Further Reading
Cenk Uygur running for president as Democrat (Semafor)
Cenk Uygur To Challenge Biden In Democratic Primary (Huffpost)
Mr. President: You’re Going to Lose to Trump. We’re Begging You to Step Down (Newsweek)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/10/11/young-turks-cenk-uygur-announces-run-for-president-as-democrat/