Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is still refusing to disavow his relationship with communist livestreamer Hasan Piker.
During a Q&A at a student town hall in Ann Arbor, a reporter asked El-Sayed about Democrat criticism of his relationship with Piker.
“You've been taking in recent days from other Democrats in the state,” the reporter said. “Congressman Sculpton has been critical of your association with Hasan Piker. The Attorney General Nessel said today that she believed that you were perhaps making excuses for domestic terrorism. Are you going to speak with these folks? How do you respond to that criticism?”
El-Sayed responded, noting that he’s had “a number of conversations with folks across my party and elsewhere.”
He continued, “I think the question right now is how do we get together to beat Donald Trump? If folks are serious about Trump being the existential threat that I know he is, then I think it is critical for all of use to come together to beat his chosen lackey here in Michigan.”
El-Sayed intimated that the Piker controversy is a narrative peddled by Republicans.
“You know, I think there's a narrative that he's trying to push that somehow we're disunited,” he said. “There is no poll justification for that, no evidence for that. And I think there are a few people who are still nursing wounds or grievances from the primary.”
Abdul El-Sayed slanders President Trump as an "existential threat" and refuses to condemn Hasan Piker.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 27, 2026
Q: Your association with Hasan Piker...the AG said you were making excuses for domestic terrorism.
EL-SAYED: “Folks are serious about Trump being the existential threat.” pic.twitter.com/lIRQKFhvDb
Democrat leaders in Michigan have slammed El-Sayed over his bromance with the streamer, who has made a series of controversial comments. His primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens (MI-11) said Piker is “the exact opposite of someone I’d be campaigning with” and pointed out that the candidate was “choosing to campaign with someone who has a history of antisemitic rhetoric.”
State Sen. Mallory McMorrow also chimed in on the issue, saying Piker “is not somebody that you should be campaigning with at a moment when there is clearly a lot of pain and trauma across our state.”
Democrat Rep. Josh Gottheimer CALLS OUT Abdul El-Sayed campaigning with Hasan Piker:
— Senate Republicans (@NRSC) August 25, 2026
"Hasan Piker is an antisemite... Nobody should be anywhere near this guy. No one should campaign with him."
"Anyone who is quiet right now is complicit." pic.twitter.com/HuNuNcBRyN
Sen. Elissa Slotkin castigated Piker for equating the Israeli government with terrorist group Hamas. “Any equating of all Jews or American Jews with Israel and the Israeli government is a problem right off the bat, and then it sounds like, from there, a cascading set of antisemitic tropes and just the kind of rhetoric that is — I want to read for myself, but sounds deeply antisemitic, consistently, and therefore not someone that should be helping anybody out in the Michigan political environment,” she said.
President Donald Trump is a gift to far-leftists like El-Sayed. Whenever they are challenged on their behavior or associations, they can just say “But, Trump!” to avoid having to defend themselves. It might work for staunch Democrats, but not for the rest of the voting public.
While most regular voters might not know who Hasan Piker is, all it would take is for El-Sayed’s opponent to flood the airwaves showing Piker saying America deserved 9/11 and that Jewish Americans are to blame for violence against them. I’m sure that’d go over well with Michigan voters, wouldn’t it?