El-Sayed walks political tightrope in Michigan with Hasan Piker

Abdul El-Sayed is walking a political tightrope in the Michigan Senate race as the Democratic nominee enters the final stretch of his campaign, looking to shore up support among skeptical Jewish voters without outright disavowing controversial left-wing streamer Hasan Piker.

El-Sayed has also faced pressure to disavow Piker, who campaigned for El-Sayed during the primary and has come under fire for several controversial statements, including suggesting Jewish Americans who support Israel have themselves to blame for violence that may befall them.

El-Sayed condemned the comments but has resisted calls to disavow Piker.

On Monday, he made clear he had no intention of denouncing Piker, pushing back in an interview against what he described as a “massive effort to cancel Hasan” and suggesting Piker’s critics were taking the streamer’s remarks out of context.

“They’re trying to equate him and David Duke, and him and Nick Fuentes,” El-Sayed said on “The Breakfast Club” radio show. “The fact that they’re working so hard to character assassinate him suggests that there is a disjunct there between what he’s actually saying and what people hear him saying who actually pay attention.”

“If anybody starts to pick you apart out of context, it’s never done in good faith,” he added.

The approach has left some Jewish Michiganders unconvinced, questioning whether an apology El-Sayed offered over the weekend — for saying “hurt people hurt people” in reaction to the March attack on the Wolverine State’s largest synagogue — was sincere.

Joan Lowenstein, the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus’s endorsement chair, said she was glad to hear El-Sayed call........

© The Hill