Michigan Democratic Senate Hopeful Criticized for Campaign Rallies With Hasan Piker
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Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El‑Sayed, backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, is facing sharp backlash from primary rivals and mainstream Democrats over his decision to hold campus rallies Tuesday at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University with far‑left streamer Hasan Piker. Piker, who once said “America deserved 9/11” and has been accused of antisemitism for his harsh criticism of Israel and downplaying of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, is being brought in to energize El‑Sayed’s progressive base alongside Rep. Summer Lee. Rep. Haley Stevens and State Sen. Mallory McMorrow both condemned El‑Sayed’s move as unacceptable and divisive, especially coming less than two weeks after a man rammed his truck into a Michigan synagogue in what officials called a targeted act of domestic terrorism. Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin, the Anti‑Defamation League, and Third Way’s Matt Bennett have also labeled Piker antisemitic, with Bennett calling El‑Sayed a “disgrace to the Democratic Party,” while likely GOP nominee and former Rep. Mike Rogers is using the controversy to paint Democrats as embracing extremists. In a Fox News interview, El‑Sayed defended himself as anti‑war, tried to explain leaked comments about Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei’s death and anger in Dearborn, and argued that high gas prices are a price of avoiding wider war, but the episode is intensifying a broader fight over how far Democrats will go in partnering with incendiary online influencers.