Facebook co-founder sells The New Republic to top Dem donor

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes has sold The New Republic, the 102-year-old liberal news magazine, to Oregon publisher and top Democratic political donor Win McCormack.

McCormack, who runs Portland, Ore.-based literary quarterly Tin House and Tin House books, said he would stay true to the mag’s roots.

“We intend to continue in that same tradition, preserving the journal as an important voice in a new debate over how the basic principles of liberalism can be reworked to meet the equally demanding challenges of our era,” he said in a statement Friday.

McCormack is chairman of the Democratic Party of Oregon’s President Council and a past member of the Obama for President Oregon Finance Committee.

Hamilton Fish, publisher and editorial director of The Washington Spectator, was appointed publisher and editorial director.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed. Hughes bought the magazine for a reported $2 million plus liabilities in 2012 and spent another $20 million trying to convert it into a digital media company.

But he clashed with editor Franklin Foer, whose resignation sparked a staff exodus.

Hughes tossed in the towel last month, saying he wanted “to find the right steward to ensure that TNR continues to be impactful and relevant.”