Papadopoulos, Young Turk lose big in race to fill Katie Hill's open House seat

The California congressional seat left vacant by the recent resignation of Democrat Katie Hill was in close contention Tuesday evening -- but bold name contenders George Papadopoulos and Cenk Uygur are out of the running. 

Papadopoulos, a Republican and former Trump campaign adviser, received just 2.3 % of the vote. Uygur, the creator and host of the popular progressive talk show "The Young Turks," won just 4.6%, in the race for the state's 25th congressional district seat.

The open-seat race will likely go to a runoff in May between Democratic Assemblywoman Christy Smith and Republican Mike Garcia, a defense contractor and former Navy pilot.

Hill resigned in November after evidence surfaced that she’d had a number of affairs with her congressional and campaign staffers.

Republican Steve Knight, from whom Hill captured the congressional seat in 2018, was also running and looks to have finished the night in third place.

Uygur, once a Republican, now identifies as progressive and supports Sen. Bernie Sanders’ White House bid in the Democratic primary. In December, Senator Sanders endorsed and then promptly un-endorsed Uygur after some of the senator's supporters took issue with comments the television host had made in the past.

"I hear my grassroots supporters who were frustrated and understand their concerns. Cenk today said he is rejecting all endorsements for his campaign, and I retract my endorsement," read the end of the Sanders statement. 

He also enjoyed the support of several notable Hollywood progressives - John Cusack, who he's known for years, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, who is part of a group that invested millions of dollars into the Young Turks Network.

Uygur did, however, face backlash for never having lived in the district in which he was running.

During his campaign, Uygur said he had no interest in playing the politics of a purple district.

 “I’m not going to mitigate my position or find a middle ground,” he said.

Republicans currently hold only six House seats of the state’s available 53.