Twitch streamer Hasan Piker said that Democratic Michigan U.S.Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed asked him to "stump" for his campaign during an interview Friday following the intense backlash the Democratic politician has faced for appearing with him.Piker spoke to Semafor columnist David Weigel about the backlash he has received from Democrats since appearing on the campaign trail with El-Sayed, which he claimed was El-Sayed's idea, not his."He asked me to stump for him, and I had not considered that ever before," Piker said.
"I'd never really delivered a speech like that before."EL-SAYED PALS AROUND WITH FAR-LEFT STREAMER HASAN PIKER THE DAY BEFORE CRUCIAL MICHIGAN SENATE ELECTIONAbdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S.Senate in Michigan, talks poolside with streamer Hasan Piker at a party for content creators supporting his campaign, Monday, Aug.
3, 2026, in Detroit.(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)Piker added that he had previously decided to get more involved with politics through New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's campaign but did not face significant backlash for that effort compared to campaigning for El-Sayed.
He explained that after campaigning for El-Sayed, establishment Democrats and think tanks like Third Way came out to attack him."I'll admit I didn't realize how much the media would think that this is different," he continued."I had no idea that in the mindset of, you know, people in D.C., in the mindset of like, establishment media, doing a rally with a politician was apparently far more consequential than flying out to Dearborn and, like, working out with him, doing profiles, fundraising for him.
I didn't realize that it was a very different thing," Piker said.He continued, "I did not realize that people would get so mad about it because, from my perspective, who cares if I'm doing a rally with a politician? I'm like, I've already had the guy on, like, a hundred times on the broadcast.You know, I've fundraised...