Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Party’s nominee in the Michigan Senate race, sought to brush aside far-left streamer Hasan Piker’s incendiary past remarks suggesting America deserved the deadly 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” host Kristen Welker asked the socialist-aligned candidate whether he disavowed Piker’s comments, given that El-Sayed had repeatedly campaigned alongside the leftist streamer in the lead-up to Tuesday’s contentious primary against establishment-backed Congresswoman Haley Stevens.
“When asked about Hasan Piker’s comments on 9/11, Senator Bernie Sanders called it a dumb statement. Do you agree? Do you disavow those comments that America deserved 9/11?” Welker asked.
“Of course, of course, it was a dumb statement, and of course, I think Hasan himself would say that was a dumb statement. He disavowed it. So yes, America didn’t deserve 9/11,” El-Sayed said, but then immediately pivoted to qualify his remarks, suggesting that continued focus on Piker’s remarks amounted to “cancel culture.”
“But, you know, to sit here and play gotcha politics with dumb things somebody said out of context that they disavowed themselves and say, ‘Oh, well, what does that mean about what you think?’ I want to be held accountable for what I say and what I do, rather than this idea that we’re so stuck in cancel culture that all of us agreed was a bad idea back in 2020, but we seem to want to bring back,” he added.
Welker then pressed El-Sayed on whether he plans to continue campaigning alongside Piker through the fall.
“Look, I’m less concerned now with who I’m campaigning with and a lot more concerned about who I’m campaigning to. We got a lot of work to do to continue to build the coalition that’s going to beat Mike Rogers,” he said.
“Would you welcome him, though, on the campaign trail with you?” Welker asked.
“So, I think we have this notion sometimes on shows like this that we cannot or should not talk to certain groups of people. And I will tell you that the three million people who listen to Hasan are people I want to make sure understand that there’s a pathway into our politics …” El-Sayed said.
The back-and-forth over Piker’s most fringe and alienating views comes as former President Barack Obama reportedly called El-Sayed to discuss November’s election, which could prove pivotal in determining the balance of power in Washington.
“I was grateful for his advice. It was very warm, very inviting, and I know that he knows the critical role that Michigan is going to play,” El-Sayed told NBC.
If elected, El-Sayed would become America’s first Muslim senator. His parents are both Egyptian immigrants, and his father was a part-time imam, The Daily Wire previously reported. His father-in-law is a founding committee member of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the federal government.
His background and hard-Left platform — which includes Medicare for all, abolishing ICE, defunding the police, restructuring the U.S. Supreme Court, and raising taxes on billionaires — galvanized the Democratic Party’s far-Left base, including streamer Hasan Piker, who has used his large social media network to rally support for socialist candidates.
Tuesday’s primary highlighted the Democratic Party’s accelerating ideological shift, with the establishment failing to stop the socialist-aligned Left nationwide. Supporters of the socialist movement viewed El-Sayed as their best chance to prove a leftist candidate could win statewide in a battleground like Michigan.
Since President Donald Trump’s re-election, the Democratic establishment has watched its leftist wing barnstorm the country, racking up one victory after another. Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s upset in New York City’s mayoral primary kicked off the movement’s breakthrough, followed by three Democratic Socialists of America-backed leftists ousting longtime Democratic representatives. The socialist-aligned Left also steamrolled its way through Washington, D.C. and Denver, then succeeded in nominating Graham Platner for the U.S. Senate in Maine before he dropped out of the race following a rape allegation.
Hoping to block the socialist surge in Michigan, Republican Mike Rogers offered an olive branch to moderate Democrats and independent-minded voters.
“If you are among the majority of Democratic voters who woke up on Wednesday feeling well, hopeless, because the person who won does not represent your values, then just know there is still hope,” Rogers said. “And to the vast majority of people across Michigan who do not want to throw their support behind a campaign filled with anger, divisiveness, calls for violence, and the views that are out of touch with your values, then you have a home with us.”
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