Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed campaigned alongside left-wing streamer Hasan Piker at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, and then refused to disavow Piker's most incendiary remarks, including the claim that "America deserved 9/11." The decision has drawn sharp criticism from Jewish residents, fellow Democrats, and Republicans alike, and it has turned the Michigan primary into a test of how far the Democratic Party's left flank will go to court young progressive voters.
El-Sayed and Piker took a selfie with young fans following an April 7, 2026, campaign event at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Fox News Digital reported. The appearance came as some Michigan Jewish residents told the outlet that El-Sayed's candidacy is amplifying concerns over antisemitism in a state already shaken by a March attack on its largest synagogue.
Piker, a Twitch streamer with more than three million followers, has faced bipartisan backlash for years. In 2019 he said "America deserved 9/11." Critics have also labeled his commentary on Israel and U.S. foreign policy as antisemitic. Yet El-Sayed chose to stand beside him, and then framed any objection as a culture-war distraction.
When pressed on the partnership, El-Sayed did not equivocate about his strategy. He told Fox News Digital:
"Obviously, I don't agree with some of the statements Hasan has made. But we play this game where we platform police and pretend that we're not allowed to talk to certain groups of people because they said something we disagree with. That's just not how the world works. And if we did that, we would be dividing ourselves, just like our politics is. I reject that game, and I go and talk to anyone, because I believe that there's an opportunity to actually persuade them."
The Washington Examiner reported that El-Sayed went further, declaring: "I'm not here to disavow people's views. This whole gotcha game, platform policing, cancel culture, I thought we were over it." He framed the alliance as a way to reach Piker's massive young online audience.
That framing drew a pointed response from Republican Rep. John James, who called the association "disgusting," as Newsmax reported.
El-Sayed also addressed Piker's 9/11 remark directly in a Fox News interview. "Of course I oppose rape. Of course I don't think 9/11 was justified," he said, the New York Post reported. But he argued the comment should be viewed in "context", a defense that did little to satisfy critics.
The Washington Free Beacon noted that El-Sayed told Fox & Friends: "It's important to talk about context." He also said, "Because you appear with somebody doesn't mean you agree with them on everything."
The "context" defense rang hollow for Michigan residents already on edge. Steve Cohen, a lifelong Michigander, told Fox News Digital that El-Sayed's rhetoric broke with the state's political traditions.
"I'm a lifelong Michigan resident, and when somebody runs for office in our state, it's always been somebody who is not based on hate. Mr. El-Sayed not only is spewing hate, but he's spewing it at political conventions and everywhere. With our history in Michigan, it's shameful. He's not a qualified candidate. It's time for the Jewish community, and, for that matter every other community, to stand up and say no, and enough is enough."
Another resident, identified only as Howard, described a chaotic scene at a Michigan Democratic convention. He told Fox News Digital that El-Sayed supporters and activists "flooded the convention with voters" after registering as Democrats in the weeks before the event. "All you had to do was register within 30 days," Howard said.
What happened next alarmed attendees. Howard described how supporters of Israel were targeted and shouted down, including Democratic primary rival Haley Stevens.
"They [shouted down people like Haley Stevens] and others who had supported Israel. It was a circus. Anybody who had ever supported Israel was targeted. Many residents left frightened by what they saw."
Howard added: "Mr. El-Sayed's campaign appears centered on hostility toward Israel, and many Michigan residents are frightened about what that means for the future."
The fear is not abstract. On March 12, 2026, an attacker rammed into Temple Israel, a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan. Captions from the Fox News Digital report described debris covering the floor near a damaged doorway inside the synagogue and noted that an active shooter was reported at the site. El-Sayed's critics see his rhetoric as part of a climate that makes such incidents more likely, or at least more tolerable to a political faction that treats hostility toward Israel as a litmus test.
The Piker alliance is not an isolated episode. El-Sayed has drawn scrutiny for a string of controversial associations and statements that, taken together, paint a picture of a candidate willing to align with radical figures when it serves his electoral interests.
Previously reported audio caught El-Sayed saying he did not want to comment on the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei because many voters in Dearborn were "sad" about it, a remark that raised questions about his willingness to pander to extremist sentiment in one of the nation's largest Arab American communities.
El-Sayed has also faced questions about his broader worldview. In separate remarks, he suggested that the United States bears responsibility for "creating" terrorism, a claim that drew sharp rebukes from critics who said it echoed the very rhetoric Piker has used to justify anti-American provocations.
His campaign trail has featured other troubling companions. El-Sayed appeared alongside a Michigan regent candidate whose deleted social media posts praised Hezbollah and the Iranian regime, an association that added another layer of concern about the company he keeps.
And his alliance with Bernie Sanders, who rallied with El-Sayed in Detroit, underscored the candidate's positioning on the party's far-left edge, including his stated desire to abolish ICE.
El-Sayed faces at least two Democratic primary opponents: Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow. Both have pushed back against his campaign's direction.
McMorrow disclosed earlier this month that her Jewish husband was allegedly accosted by a Michigan Democratic activist who directed an antisemitic slur at him in front of their five-year-old daughter. She also criticized El-Sayed's decision to campaign alongside Piker. The incident underscored the degree to which antisemitic hostility has seeped into intra-party politics in Michigan.
Jesse Arm, vice president at the Manhattan Institute and a pollster originally from Michigan, framed the stakes bluntly. He told Fox News Digital:
"This race is becoming a proxy fight over whether Michigan Democrats remain a normal political party or continue drifting toward a faction that treats antisemitism and anti-American extremism as tolerable. For many Michiganders, not just Jewish voters, the question of whether the people seeking power take their safety seriously is no longer abstract."
That assessment tracks with national data. The American Jewish Committee's 2025 State of Antisemitism in America report found that 91 percent of American Jews surveyed said recent violent antisemitic attacks had increased their concerns about safety. Michigan, with a Jewish community whose history in the state spans more than 260 years, sits at the intersection of those fears and the political forces driving them.
El-Sayed insists he stands against antisemitism. "I understand what it's like to be discriminated against for how I pray," he told Fox News Digital. "This is why I will always stand against antisemitism and stand with my Jewish brothers and sisters and their right to practice their faith safely, freely, and unabashedly."
Words are cheap. El-Sayed says he opposes antisemitism while sharing a stage with a man whose public record includes defending the proposition that America deserved the worst terrorist attack in its history. He says he rejects "platform policing" while his supporters, by one resident's account, shouted down anyone at a Democratic convention who had ever supported Israel. He says he wants unity while his campaign trail reads like a roster of the party's most radical actors.
Michigan's Democratic primary voters will decide whether El-Sayed's actions match his assurances, or whether his record of associations and evasions tells a different story. For the Jewish families in Bloomfield Hills and West Bloomfield still processing the March attack on their synagogue, the answer matters more than any campaign slogan.
When a candidate tells you who he's willing to stand with, believe him.
