Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has spent the week working to keep his affordability message at the center of the race as scrutiny mounts from both ends of the political spectrum.
In the span of two days, El-Sayed distanced himself from leftwing streamer Hasan Piker, spoke out against rightwing hate directed at the Muslim community, and debated Fox News host Jesse Watters on taxing billionaires. The most widely shared clip from the Fox interview, however, focused on circumcision—specifically, El-Sayed asking Watters if he was circumcised in a retort to Watters’ question about gender-affirming care.
Staying on message
In each instance, El-Sayed tried relentlessly to stay on message. On Fox, he called opponent Mike Rogers a “beta” and took a jab at Pete Hegseth in a response to a question about the federal deficit, saying Watters didn’t seem concerned that the defense secretary, “the guy who used to work on your channel”, wanted to increase the military budget to $1.5tn.
“Why, so we could fight a war we don’t know how to get out of, to raise our gas prices $5 a gallon?” El-Sayed said.
At a press conference condemning Islamaphobic agitator and January 6 rioter Jake Lang on Tuesday morning, El-Sayed emphasized a religious unity message in Michigan, then brought it back to Rogers and the cost of groceries.
Dispute over Piker
Perhaps the most heated dialogue this week, however, has been between centrist Democrats and the left wing of the party about controversial political streamer Piker. In the most recent dustup, Piker called out Jeremy Moss, who is Jewish and running for Congress in Michigan’s 11th district, for not endorsing El-Sayed. Moss has said he’s not ready to endorse El-Sayed because of their differing views on Israel.
“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,” Piker said in a stream. “I don’t know how people don’t recognize how dangerous this predicament is, how dangerous this is for Jews.”
The comments drew online anger from some prominent Democrats, including House speaker Hakeem Jeffries, who didn’t mention Piker by name but called the comments “dangerous and antisemitic”. Politico reported that Representative Hillary Scholten, a Democrat, does not want to put her name on campaign literature with El-Sayed due to his association with Piker.
Others defended Piker, saying he did not call for violence, but that Israel’s actions had dangerous effects on the safety of Jews.
El-Sayed campaigned with Piker during the Democratic primary, which his Democratic opponents at the time took issue with because of the Twitch streamer’s comments on Israel.
“If Abdul El-Sayed had any courage at all, he would call this out and disavow Hasan Piker once and for all. We’re waiting, Abdul …” Rogers said, calling Piker the candidate’s “running mate”.
El-Sayed’s response
El-Sayed did put out a statement, saying his “commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own daughters” and calling antisemitism a “scourge”, though he did not say Piker was antisemitic. It was a rare step for El-Sayed to distance himself from the Twitch streamer and drew condemnation from some who said it was playing into efforts to conflate Israel and Jewish people.
The move came at a time when El-Sayed works to win over Jewish voters, some of whom have expressed concerns over his comments or positions on Israel.
“I stand against any rhetoric that puts the community at risk,” El-Sayed said. “But I want to be crystal clear, nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople.”
But like all of his responses to attacks in recent days, he brought it back to the same note: the cost of living.
“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. “Because that’s what Michiganders keep asking about. It’s why I’m fighting to get money out of politics, money in your pocket, and Medicare for All.”
Piker said on a stream in response to El-Sayed’s statement: “There are going to be a lot of people who are already questioning Abdul El-Sayed’s sincerity on these issues that will then turn around and say, ‘he’s moderating his position on Israel!’ I don’t think he is. I will say this: I am literally the person that is being dangled and I’m going to tell you once again; he’s not moderating on his perspective on Israel or anything like that.”
In the anti-hate press conference on Tuesday, El-Sayed told reporters he has had ongoing conversations with Moss “about what it looks like to come together agreeably across our disagreements”. He said he was grateful to Judaism and the Jewish community, who he called “a light unto the world”, and said the Jewish faith was a “beautiful faith that rhymes with so much of my own”.
“I think all of us agree that the things that divide us are so much smaller than the things that unite us against somebody like Mike Rogers,” El-Sayed said.
According to Semafor, Moss was in talks to endorse El-Sayed before the Piker comments. Moss said in a statement late Monday that he has been in “continual dialogue” with El-Sayed over their disagreements, which he said he was grateful for.
“But provocateurs are exploiting this moment to create further divisions,” he said. “I will not be lectured by a California podcaster about what Oakland County, Michigan’s Jewish community should and shouldn’t believe.”
