A group representing Jewish students at Michigan State University says it’s “deeply troubled” by U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed inviting leftist commentator Hasan Piker to speak at an upcoming rally in April on campus.
In a statement to The State News on behalf of MSU Hillel, Vice President of the Jewish Student Union Skylar Elbinger wrote that the presence of Piker, whom the group called a “known antisemite,” at the rally would create a “hostile environment” for Jewish students on campus by “threatening their security and belonging.”
“At a time when Jewish students are experiencing heightened fear and vulnerability — especially in the wake of the recent attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield — this choice is especially concerning,” the statement read.
The local pushback follows a wave of scrutiny on the El-Sayed campaign by centrist Democrats after the campaign announced Tuesday that Piker would be a speaker on his college campus tour which includes the University of Michigan.
“Anyone eager to campaign with Hasan Piker is, at best, comfortable overlooking his antisemitic and anti-American extremism and, at worst, endorsing it,” Jonathan Cowan, the president of centrist think tank Third Way told POLITICO Tuesday.
Piker, who rose to prominence providing political commentary on the streaming platform Twitch, has faced backlash for a variety of inflammatory comments.
During the 2025 New York City mayoral election, then-candidate Zohran Mamdani was criticized for appearing on one of Piker’s streams, with opponents dialing in on Piker commenting in 2019 that “America deserved 9/11,” which he later retracted.
StopAntisemtism, a pro-Israel nonprofit nominated Piker to be its “Antisemite of the Year” for criticisms Piker made of Israel as well as his on-air comments that “It doesn't matter if … rapes happened on Oct. 7.”
The decision to have Piker speak at the rally, which marks his first foray into the U.S. Senate race, has also consternated Democrats who fear that cozying up with the controversial commentator would jeopardize the party’s fortunes in the 2026 midterms.
“Democrats risk losing our credibility to condemn those on the right who traffic in bigotry, antisemitism, & hate when our own Members of Congress & candidates are celebrating or, worse yet, platforming those who espouse hate of any kind,” Illinois Democratic Rep. Brad Schnieder wrote in an X post Tuesday.
In a statement to The State News, El-Sayed did not answer questions about opposition to Piker’s presence at the rally, instead saying that the campaign is looking to reach those in the political system who’ve been “locked out of our politics and a life they can afford.”
“I’m going to keep talking to these folks any and everywhere I can,” the statement continued. “It’s no surprise that the corporate establishment who has been locking them out is now howling. This is what happens when you take on corporate power.”
MSU College Democrats declined to comment on Hasan Piker’s participation in the rally.
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