El-Sayed Condemns Piker’s Comparison of Jewish Michigan Voters to the KKK

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed condemned comments by livestreamer Hasan Piker comparing outreach to Jewish voters in West Bloomfield with canvassing a Ku Klux Klan neighborhood. Piker made the comparison during a Friday broadcast while watching a news segment about volunteers approaching voters in the heavily Jewish Detroit suburb on El-Sayed’s behalf. Piker likened the canvassing effort to asking white supremacists to support a Black candidate opposed to bans on interracial marriage. He also dismissed a Jewish interviewee’s description of Israel as a safe haven and criticized her support for Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers. El-Sayed rejected the comparison in a statement: “Comparing Jewish Michiganders to the Ku Klux Klan is utterly inappropriate and flat out wrong.” He said he had grown up in a neighboring town and described his campaign as an effort to bring people together. His statement did not name Piker, with whom he had campaigned during the primary. State Rep. Noah Arbit, who represents West Bloomfield, warned that the remarks could endanger the Jewish community and called on candidates and elected officials to reject them. After El-Sayed issued his condemnation, Arbit thanked him for standing against the attack on the community. El-Sayed said his canvassers would continue speaking with voters throughout Michigan ahead of Tuesday’s Senate election.