By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed privately contacted left-wing political streamer Hasan Piker and warned that his public statements about Israel and Jewish Americans were damaging his campaign, according to a new report detailing concerns among Democrats about the closely contested November election.
The conversation, reported Wednesday, Oct. 7, by CNN political correspondent Edward-Isaac Dovere, marks a departure from El-Sayed’s earlier willingness to appear alongside Piker during the Democratic primary. Two people familiar with the exchange told CNN that the Senate candidate had urged the streamer to stop making statements that were costing him votes.
The account, subsequently detailed by Forbes in its coverage of the reported conversation, comes amid mounting criticism from prominent Democrats, Jewish community leaders and Republican opponents who have questioned El-Sayed’s continued association with Piker.
The reported call has not been independently confirmed through a recording or public account from either participant. However, CNN’s Dovere discussed the findings during an Oct. 7 appearance on Inside Politics, explaining that two sources had described the exchange.
The controversy presents a political challenge for El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official who defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary in August and is now facing Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers in the general election.
El-Sayed campaigned with Piker during the primary, seeking to engage younger voters and progressive audiences attracted to the streamer’s online commentary. Their appearances drew national attention and criticism over Piker’s previous statements concerning the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Israel, Hamas and antisemitism.
Since securing the Democratic nomination, El-Sayed has sought to move public attention toward economic issues, including health care, household expenses and the cost of living, while declining to categorically renounce his association with Piker.
According to CNN’s reporting, the candidate’s private message to the streamer was more explicit than his public remarks.
During the network’s Oct. 7 discussion of the Michigan Senate campaign, anchor Dana Bash described the exchange, saying El-Sayed “recently called Piker and warned his rhetoric was costing El-Sayed votes, asking him to stop.”
Dovere confirmed that the information came from two people familiar with the conversation and noted that the candidate’s relationship with Piker had changed since the primary.
“He campaigned a lot with Piker, including the day before the primary in August,” Dovere said. “I was at an event with El-Sayed, and he arrived to the event with Hasan Piker. So, the distancing from him now is definitely a post-primary shift here.”
The development follows weeks of questions about whether El-Sayed’s campaign has adequately addressed concerns from Michigan’s Jewish community.
Piker, a prominent Twitch personality with millions of followers, has frequently criticized Israel’s government and military operations in Gaza. His comments have also included statements that Democratic and Republican lawmakers have characterized as antisemitic or inflammatory.
In August, Piker suggested that repeatedly portraying American Jews as uniquely committed to Israel could eventually provoke violence against Jewish communities in the United States.
“If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they’re singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone will come around and take action—not against Israel, mind you, but against American Jews,” Piker said.
The statement drew objections from political leaders who argued that it risked shifting responsibility for antisemitic attacks onto Jewish Americans.
Piker subsequently maintained that his remarks were intended as a warning against conflating Jewish identity with support for Israel, rather than an endorsement of violence.
His explanation did not end the controversy.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan and Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan were among those who criticized the rhetoric or expressed concerns about Piker’s association with the Senate campaign.
El-Sayed responded by saying he opposed statements that placed Jewish Americans at risk, while stopping short of directly condemning Piker by name.
He said he disagreed with “any rhetoric that puts the [Jewish] community at risk” and emphasized that “nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my spokespeople.”
The candidate has also maintained that he disagrees with some of Piker’s statements but does not intend to campaign with him again.
That distinction has not satisfied all Michigan Democrats.
Rep. Hillary Scholten, a Democrat representing western Michigan, withheld her endorsement of El-Sayed over his response to the controversy.
Scholten said the Senate nominee “had a prime opportunity to cut ties with Piker and directly disavow his words, but he did not.”
Republicans have made the relationship a campaign issue, portraying El-Sayed’s decision to share campaign appearances with Piker as evidence of his ideological positions.
Rogers has repeatedly highlighted the alliance and described Piker as El-Sayed’s “running mate,” attempting to associate the Democratic nominee with the streamer’s most controversial remarks.
Piker previously attracted criticism for saying that America “deserved 9/11,” a statement he later disavowed. He has also made remarks about Hamas and Palestinian armed resistance that drew condemnation from political figures across party lines.
In a September CNN interview, Piker distinguished between supporting Palestinian resistance and endorsing every action taken by Hamas.
“I wouldn’t say I express support for all of Hamas’s actions or anything,” Piker said. “I do say that the Palestinian resistance largely does have an internationally recognized right to resist. Do they violate that sometimes with war crimes? Absolutely. And Hamas certainly has as well. But at the end of the day, Palestinians do have a right to resist militarily.”
Hamas is designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States.
El-Sayed has attempted to keep the campaign focused on issues affecting Michigan residents rather than continuing to address statements made by a political commentator.
During a Sept. 16 appearance, he defended his decision to engage with Piker’s audience, arguing that Democratic candidates should seek to bring politically disengaged younger Americans into electoral politics.
“The reason I talk to Hasan isn’t because of Hasan, it’s because of the three million people who pay attention to what he has to say,” El-Sayed said. “And I think it’s important to be able to offer those folks a pathway back into our politics.”
He then criticized the attention devoted to Piker rather than economic issues.
“I understand that’s exciting conversation in D.C., but I would encourage you to come to places like Michigan and have conversations with people. I promise you, they don’t think that a streamer in California is raising the price of their gas or their groceries. You know who’s doing that? The guy right down there who lives in the White House. He’s doing it.”
The candidate adopted a similar position during a CBS interview Sunday, Oct. 4, when asked about Jewish voters’ concerns regarding his refusal to directly condemn Piker’s statements.
“I’m not interested in having a conversation about Twitch streamers in California, because they are not raising the prices of gas and groceries,” El-Sayed said.
The public position contrasts with reports that he privately urged Piker to stop making statements that could harm the campaign.
El-Sayed’s position on Israel has also created difficulties in his outreach to some Michigan Jewish voters.
He has described Israel’s military operations in Gaza as “genocide,” an allegation that Israel rejects. The candidate’s criticism of Israeli military policy has appealed to some progressive voters while contributing to disagreements with Democratic officials and community leaders who object to his characterization of the conflict.
Those tensions intensified following an attack on a synagogue in suburban Detroit.
In discussing the attacker, whose relative was reportedly killed during an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, El-Sayed used the phrase “hurt people hurt people.”
The remarks prompted criticism from members of Michigan’s Jewish community who viewed them as an inappropriate explanation for an antisemitic act of violence.
In August, El-Sayed apologized to the Michigan Jewish Democratic Caucus and said he hoped to “earn your trust.”
However, disagreement over his response to the synagogue attack and his relationship with Piker continued into the general election campaign.
The dispute also contributed to tensions with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat who previously criticized El-Sayed and declined to attend the party’s August convention.
Nessel, who is Jewish, said she had concerns about her safety and the atmosphere surrounding the campaign.
Despite those objections, she subsequently announced that she would support El-Sayed in the general election.
In remarks to CNN, Nessel described the difficulty of supporting a nominee with whom she had substantial disagreements.
“This is not the choice we wanted, but it’s the choice we have,” she said.
Dovere reported that some Jewish leaders remained uncomfortable with El-Sayed’s approach, particularly regarding their concerns about antisemitism and the safety of Jewish residents.
He also described frustrations among some Black Democratic leaders in Detroit who believed El-Sayed had not done enough to maintain relationships following his primary victory.
One community leader told CNN that a promised invitation to participate in a campaign roundtable had not materialized, contributing to the impression that the candidate was taking some Democratic constituencies for granted.
El-Sayed rejected suggestions that he was neglecting those communities, telling CNN that he had met with numerous groups and understood the importance of continued outreach.
“Every community that I’ve met with, I’ve said, leading for and with your community is a concern and a key consideration with me,” he said. “I could spend all my time with any one community, and it probably wouldn’t be enough. And that’s perfectly fair. People deserve a U.S. senator who’s going to show up and listen but I’ve showed up and listened.”
The disagreements have emerged during a closely watched contest for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.
Michigan has produced narrow statewide election results in recent years, making divisions within either party a potentially significant factor in voter turnout.
Peters won reelection in 2020 by approximately 1.7 percentage points, while Slotkin won Michigan’s other Senate seat in 2024 by approximately three-tenths of a percentage point.
Former Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow won her 2018 reelection campaign by approximately 6.5 percentage points.
Recent polling indicates that El-Sayed and Rogers are competing in a closely divided electorate.
A Fox News poll cited in the Forbes report found El-Sayed receiving 50% support compared with 49% for Rogers, a difference too small to establish a clear leader without considering the survey’s margin of error.
Other recent surveys have also shown a competitive contest, with varying results depending on the polling organization and methodology.
El-Sayed has nevertheless expressed confidence in his campaign’s position, telling CNN that he expects to win the election by seven percentage points.
His prediction followed a Democratic primary in which he narrowly defeated Stevens after previously anticipating a considerably larger victory.
The general election also poses different political challenges from the primary, requiring the Democratic nominee to appeal beyond the progressive voters who helped secure his nomination.
Rogers, a former congressman and former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is seeking the seat after narrowly losing to Slotkin in 2024.
His campaign has emphasized national security, economic issues and criticism of El-Sayed’s political affiliations.
El-Sayed, meanwhile, has campaigned on expanding health care access, reducing household costs and limiting the influence of corporate and special-interest money in politics.
The candidates are preparing for their first general election debate as Michigan approaches the Nov. 3 midterm election.
The reported conversation with Piker illustrates the tensions surrounding El-Sayed’s effort to retain support from progressive voters while addressing criticism from other segments of the Democratic electorate.
Piker’s online following helped introduce El-Sayed to politically engaged younger audiences during the primary, but the streamer’s comments about Israel and Jewish Americans have generated sustained objections from party officials and community leaders.
The extent to which the controversy will influence voters remains uncertain. Recent polling does not establish how many Michiganders, if any, have changed their voting preferences specifically because of El-Sayed’s relationship with Piker.
What has become clear is that the association remains a subject of scrutiny weeks before Election Day, even as El-Sayed publicly argues that the campaign should concentrate on economic and health care issues.
CNN’s report indicates that the candidate has privately acknowledged potential political costs associated with Piker’s rhetoric, while his public statements continue to emphasize engagement with the streamer’s audience rather than an outright rejection of their previous collaboration.
With the election approaching, the disagreement remains part of a broader contest over Democratic Party unity and the political positions of the candidates seeking to represent Michigan in the U.S. Senate.
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