Bernie Sanders retracts endorsement of congressional candidate Cenk Uygur

Uygur — who had already backed Sanders’ bid for president and is a candidate in the competitive race to replace Katie Hill in California’s 25th Congressional District — has built a following around his popular progressive talk show “The Young Turks,” which started as a radio program before becoming a well-watched YouTube channel.

But he was forced from the group Justice Democrats in 2017 after old blog posts were unearthed in which he objectified women. He had also made controversial comments on his program, including arguing that bestiality should be legal in some cases, demeaning the sex lives of lesbians and inviting former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke for a segment about his anti-Semitic view of Judaism. Uygur has disavowed some of these remarks, saying his views have changed. He told CNN’s Chris Cuomo last month that he had deleted past insensitive posts about women because they don’t reflect who he is years later

After Sanders declared his support on Thursday, Uygur announced Friday afternoon that he would not be accepting political endorsements because he “want(s) to be free—of any influence other than the voters of CA-25.”

Sanders’ endorsement had drawn the ire of some of the senator’s supporters in California.

“I am a former member of the military, I am mixed-race black and brown, I am a member of the LGBTQ community and our party should never, ever, tolerate racist or homophobic comments of any kind, period,” said Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, the head of the California Young Democrats, which has endorsed Sanders.

He added that while they were disappointed in Sanders’ decision, it would not lead them to withdraw their support for his campaign but they hoped he would consider pulling the endorsement back.