El-Sayed Reportedly Called Hasan Piker And Asked Him to Stop the Inflammatory Rhetoric, Warning He Was Costing Him Votes

(Screengrab via Axios) (Screengrab via CBS)

CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere published a deep dive Wednesday into the Michigan U.S. Senate race between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers, with a focus on the many Democrats El-Sayed still has yet to win over.

Dovere opens his report noting that El-Sayed predicts he will win the race by seven points and reports the Michigan progressive has made some efforts at damage control, asking ally and controversial streamer Hasan Piker to quit the inflammatory rhetoric during the campaign.

“I’m not the Democrat the Democrats want, but I am the Democrat that Democrats have. And I am decidedly not a Republican. But this is what I’ll tell you: I am a Democrat that Michiganders want,” El-Sayed is quoted in the piece, alluding to his issues with the Democratic Party establishment.

Dovere reports that “El-Sayed says he’s been pressured to modulate his positions” since defeating moderate Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in a razor-thin primary, which El-Sayed also predicted he’d win by a large margin. Dovere reported that El-Sayed largely is refusing to back down from his progressive leanings, but added:

El-Sayed has quietly made one concession: He distanced himself from Hasan Piker after campaigning through the end of the primary with the streamer, who’s said that Jews who keep supporting Israel should worry about their safety and that America is “pound for pound” worse than Al-Qaeda. El-Sayed recently called Piker and warned his rhetoric was costing El-Sayed votes, asking him to stop, according to two people El-Sayed told about the conversation. Piker did not respond to requests for comment.

El-Sayed and Rogers are set to debate on Thursday night, their only scheduled debate for the campaign. The RealClearPolitics average of polls shows El-Sayed leading Rogers by 3 points, in what is shaping up to be one of the more competitive races this cycle.

Dovere also broke the news that Lansing Mayor Andy Schor (D), who supported Stevens in the primary, is not backing El-Sayed.

“Schor says his Jewish heritage also leaves him uncomfortable with some of what he’s heard from El-Sayed, a longtime critic of Israel who has referred to its war in Gaza as a genocide and declined to say the country should exist as a Jewish state,” Dovere reported.

Schor added that while he isn’t currently supporting El-Sayed, he does not plan to vote for Rogers.

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