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Abdul El-Sayed, a socialist-leaning candidate for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat, faced repeated inquiries from journalists at Saturday’s state Democratic Party Nominating Convention in Lansing about his connections to far-left online streamer Hasan Piker and his positions on Israel and Gaza. The questions have dogged El-Sayed’s campaign for months and have fractured relationships with Jewish Democrats who view his statements as insensitive to their community’s concerns.
When pressed by media in the convention hallway, El-Sayed dismissed the line of questioning as irrelevant to the race. “We’re in the state of Michigan. If you want to make this race about a streamer in California, I just think you’re missing the boat,” he said, redirecting focus to healthcare access, affordability, and opposition to Donald Trump’s policies. Four separate reporters posed questions about Piker, with whom El-Sayed had campaigned and socialized during the primary, but the candidate repeatedly declined to engage substantively.
Piker has drawn controversy for statements including “America deserved 9/11,” praise for Communist China and Mao Zedong, and multiple antisemitic remarks. El-Sayed’s association with the California-based streamer has intensified scrutiny of his March comments following an attack on a Michigan synagogue, where federal investigators say a gunman radicalized by Hezbollah attempted to kill Jewish worshippers. El-Sayed’s response at the time—”Hurt people, hurt people”—drew criticism from Democratic officials including Secretary of State Dana Nessel, who boycotted Saturday’s convention partly over antisemitism concerns within the party.
When confronted by Fox News Digital, El-Sayed acknowledged his remarks “might have been misconstrued” and apologized to those hurt by them. “What I was trying to do was offer context for why it happened, but it wasn’t the time for context and you don’t ever want to trample somebody’s pain,” he told the outlet. El-Sayed called on the Democratic Party to unite around shared opposition to President Trump as the convention proceeded under a “unity” theme.
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