Democratic front-runners in some of the toughest midterm races are betting that collaborating with Hasan Piker, a far-left internet personality who once said America deserved the 9/11 terrorist attacks, will attract more voters than it will repel.
Francesca Hong, the Wisconsin front-runner for the Democratic nomination for governor, rallied alongside Mr. Piker on Sunday in South Milwaukee. Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Democrat, joined them.
“Michigan is not a swing state, and neither is Wisconsin,” Mr. Piker said. “They’ve been turned into swing states because they’ve left you behind, but we are going to bring back the working class to both Wisconsin and to Michigan. A Republican will never be elected in this state ever again once our movement is done.”
Michigan and Wisconsin are quintessential swing states. Both have had close races in almost every statewide election of the 21st century.
Abdul El-Sayed, the front-runner in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary Tuesday, has also repeatedly campaigned alongside Mr. Piker.
Boasting 3.1 million followers on the streaming platform Twitch, 1.9 million YouTube subscribers and 1.7 million followers on X, Mr. Piker is a leading voice of the socialist left.
He has a history of controversial comments, such as calling Mao Zedong “one of the great leaders of this world,” and saying he would “vote for Hamas over Israel every single time” and “America deserved 9/11.”
Mr. Piker says his brand of politics can succeed even in purple states — a claim that has yet to be proved.
“You will prove that this movement is resilient,” he told the Wisconsin crowd. “If you put the interests of bosses over the interests of the workers … we are coming. … If you think we will continue pay-walling healthcare, we are coming for you.”
Allison Geyer, a communications director for Ms. Hong, told The Washington Times that Ms. Hong does not associate herself with Mr. Piker’s remarks by rallying with him.
“As she has said previously, she [does] not endorse those comments. Hasan speaks for himself, and Rep. Hong speaks for herself,” Ms. Geyer said.
Mr. Piker came to Wisconsin to “help mobilize volunteers, reach voters and encourage more young people to participate in the political process,” she said.
Mr. Piker also campaigned for Melat Kiros, a democratic socialist who, in June, defeated a three-decade incumbent, Rep. Diana DeGette, in Colorado’s Democratic primary.
Rep. Thomas Tiffany, a Trump-endorsed Republican running for governor in Wisconsin, criticized Ms. Hong for associating with Mr. Piker.
“Francesca Hong choosing to campaign with individuals who said America ’deserved 9/11,’ called communism the ’honorable end goal’ and believe capitalists should be killed is certainly a choice. It also reflects much of the democratic socialist agenda Francesca Hong is promoting,” Mr. Tiffany said in a statement to The Times.
Ms. Hong, a self-identified socialist, leads a pack of Democrats in every primary poll.
Her platform calls for publicly owned grocery stores, a halt to data center construction and the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In 2020, Ms. Hong said she supported “defunding the police as a first step towards abolishing the police.”
Ms. Geyer said the campaign hopes to reach “people who feel ignored or alienated by politics.”
“Her strategy during the primary has been brilliant,” said Republican strategist Scott Jensen, a former speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly. “They’re the only campaign of the Democratic side with a sense of joy, with any passion, and she has been very willing to lean hard into her socialist views and her working-class background.”
Mr. Jensen, who has worked on more than a dozen statewide races but is not working in the gubernatorial race, said he thinks the far-left agenda will have difficulty outside the urban centers.
“Among independents, whether they live in the vote-rich suburbs where I live, or they live in small towns and rural communities across the state, that’s just a hard sell,” he said.
Mr. Tiffany, a member of the hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus, said he has the less extreme platform.
“While she is spending her time campaigning with terrorist sympathizers like Hasan Piker, I’m focused on the people of Wisconsin by lowering taxes, rooting out fraud, improving our schools and making our communities safer,” he said. “Wisconsin will be the firewall to stop socialism from spreading across America.”
Mr. Jensen said Mr. Tiffany is “the most conservative member of the Wisconsin delegation,” but added that the candidate’s history in local government, as well as his “pragmatic” and “approachable” personality, would make it difficult to paint him as an extremist.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.