Hasan Piker and Abdul El-Sayed before a campaign rally at the University of Michigan on April 7, 2026.

Photo by AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson. Hundreds of Michiganders waited in long lines in the cold for Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s rallies with Hasan Piker at two universities. Zeteo was inside those rallies, where the national reporters who traveled to Michigan for the events seemed extremely puzzled as to why the progressive politician would choose to campaign with the popular leftist Twitch streamer – and they were intently focused on Israel. “Hasan, do you feel like your presence on the campaign trail may hurt the candidates that you’re supporting more than help them?”

a Fox News reporter asked.

Another reporter asked El-Sayed what he would say to people who attend a local synagogue that was the site of a foiled terrorist attack, and are “concerned now about you campaigning with Hasan.” Olivia Reingold, a writer for Bari Weiss’s Free Press who has defended Israel’s manufactured famine in Gaza, created a viral moment for El-Sayed when she asked him, “Does Israel have a right to exist as a Jewish state?” “What do you mean by Jewish state?”

El-Sayed responded. As Reingold stumbled and failed to answer, he retorted: “If you can’t define the question, I’m not going to answer your question.” In recent weeks, a well-funded centrist think tank and El-Sayed’s Democratic opponents have led a campaign to try to publicly cancel Piker, and El-Sayed for rallying with him. And as President Donald Trump was actively threatening to commit genocide in Iran on Tuesday, the US media was busy attempting to shame El-Sayed over some of Piker’s past controversial comments.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the journalists filed stories with headlines focused on the Muslim men’s anti-Israel views and Piker’s old remarks. “Michigan Senate candidate El-Sayed declines to disavow Hasan Piker’s past comments,” Politico wrote. Jewish Insider’s headline went further: “Abdul El-Sayed emphasizes anti-Israel rhetoric at rallies with antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker.”

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency headlined its piece: “In rallies taking on Israel, a defiant Hasan Piker boosts Michigan Senate candidate Abdul el-Sayed.” You would never know from the reports that El-Sayed’s rallies were, in fact, focused around affordability, getting money out of politics and into people’s pockets, and securing Medicare for All. Nor would you know that El-Sayed’s decision to invite Piker to his rallies at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University has been a big boon for his campaign.