Dem Senate primary erupts in key state as candidate teams up with radical streamer: 'America deserved 9/11'
A Democratic candidate in a crucial Senate battleground showdown is taking plenty of incoming fire from his primary rivals as well as the Republican contender in the race as he...
By Fox News · Fox News
A Democratic candidate in a crucial Senate battleground showdown is taking plenty of incoming fire from his primary rivals as well as the Republican contender in the race as he prepares to team up on Tuesday with a controversial far-left online streamer. Abdul El-Sayed, the 2018 Michigan Democratic gubernatorial runner-up who is backed by progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders I-Vt., as he seeks his party's 2026 Senate nomination, is scheduled to hold campus rallies at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University with Hasan Piker, as well as with progressive Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania. Piker, a potent progressive influencer, could help boost El-Sayed in a competitive and combustible Democratic Senate nomination race thanks to his millions of younger, progressive social media followers on YouTube, Instagram and X. But the appearance at the campus rallies by Piker — who once said "America deserved 9/11," and who critics argue is antisemitic due to his sharp criticism of the Israeli government and the downplaying of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel — is alarming to many Democrats. BERNIE-BACKED DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE IN KEY RACE TAKES INCOMING POLITICAL FIRE El-Sayed's top two rivals for the nomination have blasted his scheduled appearance with Piker, which was announced less than two weeks after a man rammed his truck into a Michigan synagogue , wounding a guard in what authorities said was a targeted act of domestic terrorism against the Jewish community. "It is unacceptable for a candidate wanting to represent all Michiganders to campaign with Hasan Piker, a person who is unapologetic about a career of making hurtful and anti-Semitic comments," Rep. Haley Stevens said in a statement. "With all that's at stake in this election, we should be focused on the challenges Michiganders are facing and how to fight for them." And State Senator Mallory McMorrow, in an interview with the Jewish Insider, called Piker "somebody who says extremely o…