Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed is facing renewed scrutiny after declining to directly answer reporters’ questions about his relationship with far-left streamer Hasan Piker, who has appeared with El-Sayed at multiple campaign stops across the state.
When asked about Piker’s influence on the campaign, El-Sayed told reporters the race is about Michigan and that he is “not interested in a conversation about a social media person in California.”
“But I don’t want to have a conversation about a Twitch streamer in California,” El-Sayed said. “This is not a serious conversation.”
When Fox News Digital pressed El-Sayed on why he had brought Piker to Michigan if he did not want to discuss him, El-Sayed waved off the question. Asked by another reporter whether he would condemn Piker, El-Sayed referred to him only as “a single streamer from California.”
The exchange drew widespread commentary online, including from conservative commentators and strategists. “It’s very clear Abul El Sayed is panicking. He went from doing a half dozen campaign stops with Hasan Piker and taking glamor shots with him, to refusing to say his name. Now he’s just ‘some media person in California.’ What a pal,” wrote Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” on X.
Pro-Israel activist Adam Milstein wrote on X that “El Sayed again refuses to condemn Hasan Piker — who himself recently confirmed it was El Sayed that asked him to campaign for him, not the reverse.”
Piker’s controversial history
Piker, who has roughly 10 million social media followers, has become a point of tension within the Democratic Party over past remarks, including his claim that “America deserved 9/11.”
Last week, El-Sayed responded to criticism over his association with Piker after the streamer made comments in a viral audio clip involving Jewish Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss, the Democratic nominee in the state’s 11th Congressional District. “I want to be crystal clear, nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople,” El-Sayed said in a statement at the time.
Piker appeared with El-Sayed at a campaign event on April 7 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and at a party for content creators supporting the campaign on Aug. 3 in Detroit. At the April rally, Piker said, “The reason why, when Abdul asked for me to come on this journey with him, I said yes, absolutely.”
In a Friday interview with Semafor columnist David Weigel, Piker said El-Sayed had also asked him to “stump” for the campaign.
El-Sayed will face Republican nominee Mike Rogers for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, a race that could help determine control of the U.S. Senate.
Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign for comment.
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