Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan sat down Sunday with CBS correspondent Weijia Jiang on Face the Nation and faced repeated questions about socialist Twitch personality Hasan Piker. El-Sayed pushed back on the topic and tried to steer the interview toward issues in his home state.
Jiang said Jewish voters in Michigan are worried about El-Sayed’s relationship with Piker. She added that he has condemned antisemitism but has not directly addressed Piker’s rhetoric, then asked why he has not.
El-Sayed responded, “Weijia, with all due respect, this is the third time you’ve asked about a Twitch streamer in California. I’ve done four events in Michigan this week. You know what didn’t come up? Twitch streamers in California.” The account of the interview later pointed out that Jiang had raised Piker twice, not three times.
Jiang raised Piker’s comments and Rogers’ campaign line
Just before that exchange, Jiang said Piker made “incendiary remarks” both before and after appearing with El-Sayed during the primary. The controversy has drawn attention from other political figures, such as when Debbie Dingell urged reporters to focus on El-Sayed’s campaign instead of Piker.
She was likely pointing to Piker’s claim that the United States “deserved” the 9/11 terrorist attacks, his statement that he has “no patriotism” in his heart for America, and his remark that he hates the nation. The report also said a framed newspaper of the Twin Towers on fire sits behind him on his shows.
Jiang also said Republican candidate Mike Rogers has labeled Piker El-Sayed’s “running mate.” She then asked what El-Sayed’s current relationship with the streamer is.
El-Sayed said, “I’ll tell you this, I don’t know if Mike Rogers has a running mate, but when you run for U.S. Senate, you don’t actually have one. I’m actually running to represent the people in my state, which is why while he was in Dallas saying that I was in Detroit. Dallas is not in Michigan. I’m sure he won all of the Michigan votes in Dallas.”
He argued that Rogers traveled to Dallas only because he could not break with President Donald Trump. El-Sayed said that when the president tells Rogers to jump, Rogers will ask how high. He said the same dynamic explains why Rogers will not discuss tariffs or gas prices that El-Sayed said are being driven up by the war in Iran.
El-Sayed added, “So, they want to make this about a streamer in California. I want to make this about affordability in Michigan, and they can’t talk about it because it’s their policies that are driving them up.”
He added: “So yes, they can continue to distract. That’s fine. Let’s see how well that goes for them. But at the end of the day, it’s very hard to ignore a president, especially one who wants to host himself at Trump-a-Palooza and forces all of the Republican candidates to come and kiss the ring. So good luck with that.”
When Jiang returned to whether he would condemn Piker’s comments, El-Sayed said he was “not interested in having a conversation about streamers in California because they are not raising the prices of gas and groceries.” He said the people he met at four Michigan events that week did not bring up a Twitch streamer from California.
Published: Sep 14, 2026 01:00 pm