Michigan Senate Primary Tests Limits of Democratic Coalition as Controversial Streamer Hasan Piker Joins Abdul El-Sayed's Campaign Trail

LANSING — Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is taking heat from primary rivals and the GOP contender for teaming up with controversial progressive streamer Hasan Piker, a move that has already roiled the closely watched 2026 Senate primary.

El-Sayed, the 2018 Michigan Democratic gubernatorial runner-up backed by progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was scheduled to hold campus rallies at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University with Hasan Piker on Tuesday, April 7, along with progressive Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania.

Piker, who once said that "America deserved 9/11" and called Orthodox Jews "inbred," is drawing fire from Democrats as he uses his large online following, built from his popularity as a Twitch streamer, to become a surrogate for progressive candidates like El-Sayed.

When asked whether he disavowed any of Piker's past comments amid bipartisan accusations of elevating antisemitic views from the influential streamer, El-Sayed declined to distance himself from any of Piker's controversial positions.

"I'm not here to disavow people's views," El-Sayed told reporters while at Michigan State University for a rally. "This whole gotcha game, platform policing, cancel culture — I thought we were over it. … I just think we need to get over this if we're serious about winning elections."

El-Sayed's association with Piker, who typically streams with candidates rather than stump for them on the trail, is emblematic of those in the party who see value in Piker's younger online following that can bring additional exposure with would-be voters.

Piker downplayed the political fallout among Democrats from campaigning with El-Sayed, which he condemned as an orchestrated effort by the Democratic establishment to silence their authenticity against support for Israel and the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.

"At the end of the day, I'm simply a megaphone. You can cancel me if you want, but the feeling is not going to go away," Piker told reporters after a separate rally later in the day at the University of Michigan. "We're two Muslim guys that represent the moral majority at the heart — at the center — of American politics right now on this issue."

Much of the speeches offered by El-Sayed and Piker at the two college campuses centered on U.S. support for Israel. They rejected accusations that their criticisms amount to antisemitism, which critics in both parties allege.

"It is not antisemitic to criticize a foreign government, and it's not antisemitic to criticize a Super PAC that is intent on aligning our interests with a foreign government," El-Sayed told reporters.

Piker livestreamed the entire day's events nonstop to his more than three million Twitch followers, including the behind-the-scenes moments with El-Sayed, supporters, campaign staffers, and even the van ride between events.

El-Sayed acknowledged that reaching Piker's younger audience was what made him a valuable campaign asset in the closely watched toss-up Senate race.

"Part of the reason that it's so important to me to be engaged with somebody like Hasan is because he's talking to these folks every single day," El-Sayed told reporters. "And if we're serious about building a politics that unlocks for the folks who feel locked out, you got to be serious about going to the places where they actually are. They're not watching MSNOW, they're not watching CNN, they're not watching Fox News. But they are listening and watching on screen."

El-Sayed is in a hotly contested three-way Democratic primary battle with Rep. Haley Stevens, D-MI, and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, both of whom have condemned him for associating with Piker.

So, too, has the presumptive GOP nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers.

"This is going to be kind of a good vs. evil type of race," Rogers said in a campaign video posted Tuesday.

El-Sayed is joined on the trail by Reps. Summer Lee, D-PA, and Rashida Tlaib, D-MI. Piker, who typically streams with candidates rather than stump for them on the trail, is drawing fire from Democrats as he uses his large online following to become a surrogate for progressive candidates like El-Sayed.

Piker livestreamed the entire day's events nonstop to his more than three million Twitch followers, including the behind-the-scenes moments with El-Sayed, supporters, campaign staffers, and even the van ride between events.