Michigan Democrat refuses to say if she’d back El-Sayed if he wins primary

A Michigan Democrat is drawing attention with her refusal to back Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed over his campaigning with political commentator Hasan Piker and disgraced Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner.

Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.), in an interview Wednesday with CNN’s Jake Tapper, criticized El-Sayed, who is running for retiring Sen. Gary Peters’s (D-Mich.) seat against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.). Scholten endorsed Stevens in the race in April 2025.

Scholten pointed to comments made by Piker about 9/11.

She said El-Sayed chose “to campaign with Hasan Piker, who said America deserved Sept. 11. Sure, he went on to disavow those comments, but I’m telling you, nobody on my team would ever, you know, come even close to making a comment like that.”

Piker, a left-wing Twitch streamer, apologized for the comments in 2019, calling them “inappropriate.”

“I should’ve used more........

© The Hill