On the Ballot: The provocateur both parties can’t stop talking about

The name on everyone’s lips in Washington in one of the most talked about Senate races this fall is neither candidate. It’s Hasan Piker .

He’s been described as a left-wing “streamer from California.” For some progressives, he’s part of the equation they argue the party needs to build a “winning coalition.” To other Democrats and many Republicans, he’s antisemitic and a “communist fanatic.”

Piker, who boasts 3.1 million followers on live stream video platform Twitch, has become one of Republicans’ favorite talking points on the campaign trail — particularly in Michigan. Some Democrats argue the progressive commentator is a distraction from the high-stakes midterms while others view him as a threat to their party.

“I’m not going to defend … all of his views,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) told The Hill. “That’s for him to do.”

But “I don’t know why all of a sudden the standard is you have to agree with everything he said,” she added, noting lawmakers regularly work with colleagues they don’t share the same views with.

In the fierce fight for the open Senate seat in battleground Michigan, affordability, the U.S. trade war with Canada, data centers and health care have emerged as key issues. But the Los Angeles-based influencer has dominated the cable news shows and social media chatter.

“It is absolutely ludicrous that so much oxygen from sitting elected officials in the United States Congress is being dedicated to discourse around a Twitch streamer for young people,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told The Hill.

Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers has dubbed Piker, who joined Abdul El-Sayed on the trail during the primary, as the Democratic opponent’s “running mate” and pressed El-Sayed to disavow the far-left Twitch streamer’s controversial remarks.

Piker has been denounced for suggesting that Jewish people’s support for Israel could make antisemitism worse. He has also come under fire for his remarks on Hamas, the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel and 2019 comments stating, “America deserved 9/11.”

Piker has pushed back on accusations of antisemitism, saying his criticism is of the U.S. and Israeli governments. He acknowledged that he could have phrased his comments about 9/11 differently, apologizing to any he may have offended.

A spokesperson for Piker did not respond to The Hill’s requests for comment.

But it’s not just Republicans that have condemned the influencer. Many Democrats also want to draw a line in the sand.

Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.), a prominent critic of Piker’s, told The Hill that he “has engaged in a level of hate speech that has no place within our party — deeply anti-American sentiments that I think should be condemned roundly by everyone and not embraced by this party.”

“Not only should people not be on stage with him or take his support, they should condemn his views and what he has said,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) echoed. “And I think anything short of that is unacceptable.”

While Piker is widely known as one of the most prominent Twitch streamers on the far left, his reach extends well beyond just one platform.

Bites of his livestreams — rapid fire commentary about politics and culture blended with real-time reactions to audience chats — are cut up and circulated everywhere from YouTube to TikTok, often getting picked up by media outlets like Fox News and MS Now, where commentators dissect his remarks.

“Here’s the structural problem with what I do as a livestreamer,” Piker told The New Republic in April .. “I’m talking for 10 hours a day on very volatile issues.”

“If you were talking for 10 hours a day, you’re going to say stuff that could very easily be misconstrued,” he added later.

Some argue that Democrats should be tapping into Piker’s audience, which is male-dominated.

“I think that we have been talking about how we need to reach out to all parts of our party, and also how difficult it is sometimes to get people to pay attention to politics, and so streamers are important in that,” Jayapal told The Hill, noting Piker isn’t the only online personality Democrats should court.

One of Piker’s first forays into the mainstream political sphere happened in 2020, when Ocasio-Cortez) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) played the video game “Among Us” popularized during the pandemic with Piker and other popular Twitch streamers in a push to turn out younger voters for the election. The stream garnered 400,000 views per Mother Jones .

In 2024, Piker attended the Democratic Natiional Convention as part of organizers’ push to reach younger voters via social media influencers. Piker was later kicked out of the convention, which he attributed to his criticism of organizers for not hosting a Palestinian American speaker. He initially backed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in 2020 before ultimately getting behind former President Biden that November.

He declined to endorse former Vice President Harris for the 2024 nomination.

That year election cycle male voters shifted to the right. And this demographic makes up much of Piker’s audience. Piker told Semafor in March that an average “Hasanabi head” is a white male in their mid-to-late 20s, noting that many have college degrees.

Piker gives fans “high level political analysis in a language that sounds like you might hear it across the bar,” Brandon Harris, a University of Alabama professor that studies creators and sports media, told The Hill.

A key part of his appeal, Harris explained, is his ability to tap into Gen Z and millennial angst over the economic instabilities facing their generation.

“They’re angry at not being represented, they’re angry at being told that their desires and political aspirations are childish,” Harris said. “And I think that, for many people, Hasan Piker is a cathartic experience.”

Yet, most Americans still don’t know who Piker is.

“I think the attention is way, way overstated. Over 80 percent of the voters do not know who he is,” said longtime Democratic pollster Celinda Lake , who’s working for El-Sayed’s campaign but spoke to The Hill her personal capacity. “And I think that a lot of conservatives are using it to divert attention from Trump.”

A June poll from The Economist/YouGov found that just 12 percent of respondents viewed Piker favorably while 66 percent did not know him. Sixty-eight percent of voters who cast ballots for the former vice president in 2024 also did not have a position on the streamer.

Younger generations — those between ages 18 and 29 as well as ages 30 to 44 — were more likely to know the streamer.

“I don’t know about all Democrats, but certainly for those of us who represent younger demographics, he does have a certain reach,” Omar, who has campaigned with Piker, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins last month.

And Piker has only become more involved in the political scene in the last two years.

Piker was an early supporter of now-Mayor Zohran Mamdani ’s insurgent campaign in New York City. He also made national headlines in September of that year after the assassination of Charlie Kirk , the late conservative activist whom Piker was set to debate later that month. Piker wrote an op-ed for The New York Times condemning “the rising tide of political violence.”

Mamdani’s main opponent — former Gov. Andrew Cuomo ( D), who ran as an independent in the mayoral race— seized on Mamdani’s association with Piker. Ads paid for by a super PAC supporting Cuomo’s bid pointed to Piker’s 9/11 comments, NBC News reported . Piker has apologized for the remarks, which Mamdani called “reprehensible.”

These comments have defined the Twitch streamer on the national stage as he’s stepped up his campaigning for progressive and democratic socialist candidates this year — prompting some members of the Democratic Party to disavow him and urging their own to avoid appearing alongside him.

“He’s not a Democrat. He’s a Democratic socialist. So easy answer, no,” Scholten told The Hill when asked if Piker should play any role within the party.

Piker, however, has shrugged off the idea that he is a drag on his choice candidates.

“I think the fact that the Abdul race was so close meant that, you know, the fact that I was able to bring in the under 45 crowd early on and fundraising in key moments probably helped a lot in driving him across the finish line,” he told Vox earlier this month.

‘A liability’ with ‘potential political power’

Regardless, some Democrats worry that Piker has turned into distraction — a detriment to the party as they seek to flip the House and Senate this fall.

“[At] this point, he’s a liability because we can’t seem to talk about the issues facing Michigan, and how Abdul is a better candidate than Mike Rogers because the whole conversation is around Piker,” said Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright .

Harris, however, pointed out that Piker could be an asset to grassroots Democrats moving forward. He pointed out that Twitch streamer has galvanized his audience to make donations or phone bank for candidates.

Still, his role on the campaign trail moving forward will likely be up to the very people that have denounced him.

“His potential political power and influence in the Democratic Party is very much limited by what they’re going to accept on their platform,” Harris said.

Sand holds edge over Lahn in Iowa governor’s race while Hinson leads Turek for Senate: Poll

Democratic state auditor Rob Sand is leading Republican businessman Zach Lahn in the tense Iowa governor’s race, new polling shows, while Democrat Josh Turek trails Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson in the wide-open Senate race.

A new Emerson College Polling/Nexstar Media Iowa survey found Sand with 49 percent of voters in the gubernatorial race, compared to Lahn’s 46 percent, in their fight to succeed term-limited Gov. Kim Reynolds (R). Another 6 percent of voters were still undecided.

Republicans are cautiously approaching the party’s midterm convention next week as President Trump grows increasingly unpopular with voters, with some candidates and lawmakers deciding to skip the gathering all together. Read more from The Hill’s Julia Manchester and Julia Mueller.

When California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) kicks off a four-day swing through the South on Wednesday, one key state will be noticeably missing from his itinerary: Georgia. The Hill’s Amie Parnes reports on what this means for the 2028 horse race.

Securing American Greatness, the nonprofit arm of President Trump’s super PAC MAGA Inc., rolled out its first general election ads on Wednesday, featuring Trump front and center, Julia Manchester reports.

As the midterm cycle heats up, we’re asking folks in the elections space what they’re consuming on and off the campaign trail.

Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) won the Republican nomination for her late brother’s spot on the November ballot. Before being appointed to the Senate earlier this summer, Graham was the director of public information at the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department. This conversation has been edited for clarity.

What album or podcast do you have on repeat?

What TV show are you watching right now?

What’s your favorite place to grab a bite in South Carolina?

What’s one thing or fun fact that most people don’t know about you?

New Hampshire, Rhode Island vote in last 2026 primary contests:

Primary season is drawing to a close, with just three states left on the calendar.

In New Hampshire, Rep. Chris Pappas (D) is the frontrunner in the Democratic fight to replace retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D). Former Sen. John Sununu (R) is the favorite on the other side of the aisle.

But both Pappas and Sununu must come out on top in a pair of primary contests Tuesday. Pappas is facing Karishma Manzur , a progressive medical scientist, while Sununu must beat former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) for the GOP nomination. Both Sununu and Pappas have led in the polls .

Decision Desk HQ forecasts that the seat is likely to remain in Democrats’ hands come November.

Pappas’s bid for the upper chamber has also set of a fiery primary for the Democratic nod in the 1 st Congressional District.

Shaheen’s daughter Stefany Shaheen , a former city council member in Portsmouth, is locked in a tough primary battle against Maura Sullivan , the vice chair of the state party.

In recent weeks, Sullivan has shot up in the polls, as the two candidates tussle over AIPAC and Stefany Shaheen’s familial connections in New Hampshire politics, as reported by the NH Journal.

On Wednesday, Democratic Gov. Dan McKee of Rhode Island is fighting for his political life. Democrat Helena Foulkes , a former CVS Pharmacy executive, has led the incumbent in the polls all summer.

Foulkes, who is backed by House Speaker Nancy Pelos i (D-Calif.), unsuccessfully ran for governor against McKee in 2022, losing by just a few points. The Washington Bridge in Providence has become a key issue for voters as Foulkes has ripped the governor over its prolonged closure, The New York Times reports.

Sept. 4: Delaware and North Carolina begin to send out mail-in ballots.

Sept. 4-7: Haymarket Books holds its annual Socialism Conference in Chicago. Hasan Piker is set to speak Friday and Sunday.

Sept. 8: New Hampshire holds primary elections.

Sept. 9: Rhode Island holds primary elections.

Sept. 9-10: Republican National Convention hosts midterms convention in Dallas. Vice President Vance is set to speak Wednesday, while President Trump is expected to deliver remarks Thursday.

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