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A far-left online streamer who has made several controversial statements, including saying, “America deserved 9/11,” has been making several appearances with Democratic lawmakers in recent years, including a top Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, who is set to team up with him next month.
Amid a heated Democratic primary, progressive Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is aligning himself with far-left Democrat figures, hosting an event with controversial streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker at Michigan State University on April 7, according to a press release.
“Get ready. We’re coming,” Piker said in a post to social media, highlighting that the pair would also be joined by Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., another progressive.
The event will also feature unnamed “special guests,” according to the release.
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Abdul El Sayed, left, pictured alongside Hasan Piker, right. ( Evan Cobb for The Washington Post via Getty Images; Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic)
Like other progressive candidates, El-Sayed has made affordability — and the role of government — key pieces of his campaign. In addition to calling for lowering housing costs, he’s advocated for Medicare for all, opposes corporate tax carve-outs, and supports tuition-free access to higher education, according to his website. His policies have been championed by other progressives he’s appeared with, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rashida Talib, D-Mich.
“You are part of a revolution in media today, which is talking to millions of people who are tuning out of legacy media, and thanks for what you are doing,” Sanders said about Piker last year.
Although El-Sayed has said he rejects political labels like “right” and “left,” his appearances with figures like Piker have crystallized his position among the deep-blue portions of the Democratic Party.
When asked why the campaign had organized the appearance with Piker, the El-Sayed campaign declined to comment.
Piker, a streamer who rose to popularity in 2018 for his political commentary and gaming channel, has drawn attention for a series of incendiary comments and his support for left-wing figures.
Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, addressed his supporters after the historic mayoral election victory on Tuesday night, November 4, 2025, in New York City, United States. Famous online streamer Hasan Piker attends Mamdani’s election watch party. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
In 2019, Piker famously said that “America deserved 9/11,” arguing later that the U.S. had “brought it on itself.” He would later walk it back and call it “inappropriate” after massive backlash online.
In the wake of the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack that incited Israel’s war with Gaza, Piker described Hamas, a terrorist organization, as the “lesser of two evils” in the conflict.
Once, when asked if he supported terrorism, Piker answered by saying, “No, I don’t. I don’t support the state of Israel, and I don’t support the state of the United States of America.”
He also faced backlash for praising the “brave” “mujahideen” who injured Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, who lost an eye in Afghanistan.
“What the f— is wrong with this dude? Didn’t he go to war and like literally lose his eye because some mujahideen—a brave f—ing soldier—fu–ed his eye hole with their di–?” Piker said.
Despite his many controversies, Piker has found a home among far-left figures in the Democratic Party, overlapping with some of El-Sayed’s fellow progressives. Piker has appeared with Ocasio-Cortez in a video urging voters to participate in elections in 2020, interviewed Sanders as a part of the senator’s “Fight Oligarchy Tour” and has appeared in streaming videos with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., on a number of occasions.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., chats with supporters of New York City Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani during an election night event at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, New York on Nov. 4, 2025. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
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Most recently, Piker advocated fiercely for the election of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the self-proclaimed socialist who took Democratic politics by storm in 2025. Like El-Sayed, the two appeared together in New York.
According to the press release for the upcoming event at Michigan state, the pair’s appearance hopes to “re-energize voters, young and old, ahead of the 2026 midterms in Michigan university towns.”
“The rallies will highlight the campaign’s commitment to economic justice, student debt relief, workers rights and more,” the press release reads.
Michigan will hold its Senate primaries on Aug. 4, according to its secretary of state website.
Fox News Digital reached out Piker and Summer Lee.
