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Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed broke bread with the Democratic establishment in Washington, D.C., but there’s one thing he can’t escape: his connection to a controversial figure who helped elevate his campaign.
And his connection to the controversial Twitch streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker is something he didn’t want to talk about.
When asked by Digital if he would continue to campaign with Piker, who has been almost universally condemned by Democrats in Washington and on the campaign trail, El-Sayed dodged.
ABDUL EL-SAYED PROTESTED AGAINST ‘EX-TERRORISTS’ WHO CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY, UNEARTHED REPORT REVEALS
Twitch streamer Hasan Piker appeared on the campaign trail with Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)
Piker’s shadow has dwarfed El-Sayed’s insurgent progressive campaign recently, particularly for his past comments in which he said, “America deserved 9/11,” and for a recent stream in which he argued that being against Israel isn’t antisemitic.
“If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone is going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel mind you, but against American Jews,” he said.
EL-SAYED DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM HASAN PIKER AFTER DISTURBING REMARKS ABOUT JEWISH AMERICANS
That remark earned him swift condemnation from Democrats far and wide, including El-Sayed, who put some distance between the two in a statement.
He said that “all Americans deserve the right to advocate for what they believe without fear of violence,” and acknowledged that “antisemitism is a scourge, and we need to address it in all its forms,” and added that “nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople.”
ABDUL EL-SAYED PLAYS DOWN HASAN PIKER TIES AFTER STREAMER’S VIRAL ANTISEMITISM FIRESTORM
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., acknowledged that primaries get “really hot.” (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
“And while politicians and pundits try to make this race about a Twitch streamer, we’re going to be talking about gas, groceries, good schools and healthcare,” he said.
El-Sayed’s meeting with top Democratic brass at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is a notable moment in his campaign against former Rep. Mike Rogers, particularly because he spent so much time running against the Democratic establishment in his bloody primary fight with Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich.
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Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., acknowledged that primaries get “really hot. The Michigan primary got hot.”
“But this is what you do after a primary, is you gotta unite the party, and then you do the work to reach out and cross over to independent voters and Republican voters,” Murphy told Digital.
