Cenk Uygur

Cenk Kadir Uygur (/ˈdʒɛŋk kəˈdɪr ˈjuːɡər/; Turkish: [ˈdʒeɲc kaˈdiɾ ˈujɡuɾ]; born March 21, 1970) is a Turkish-born American politician, political commentator, media host and a former presidential candidate. He is the co-creator of The Young Turks, a left-wing, progressive, sociopolitical news and commentary program.

In 1996, Uygur worked briefly as an associate attorney. He launched and began hosting The Young Turks in 2002. In 2011, in addition he appeared briefly on MSNBC as a political commentator (he was replaced by Al Sharpton), and then from 2011 to 2013 he appeared on a weeknight commentary show on Current TV. In 2017, Uygur co-founded the progressive political action committee Justice Democrats.

In 2020, Uygur was a candidate in both the special election as well as the regularly scheduled election for California's 25th congressional district. Uygur's candidacy was considered by some to be controversial due to his past comments about women, minority groups including the LGBTQ+ community, Asians, religious Jews and Muslims, and others, which were considered offensive but that he described as taken out of context. He ultimately lost both elections, being placed fourth overall and second amongst Democrats after receiving six and seven percent of the vote, respectively.

Uygur announced his candidacy in the 2024 Democratic presidential primaries in October 2023, despite not being a natural-born U.S. citizen as required. He expected the requirement to be overturned by the courts in the event of his victory due to the Equal Protection clause, emulating an unsuccessful argument previously made by ineligible candidate Abdul Hassan, in 2012. Uygur withdrew from the race on March 6, 2024.