US midterms: Left wing influencers like Hasan Piker find a grudging place in Democratic Party

PHILADELPHIA – Soon after US President Donald Trump’s win in the 2024 election, the Democratic Party launched a manhunt of sorts.Where was Joe Rogan of the Democrats to be found?The influential opinion maker, along with many other right-leaning podcasters, was credited by Trump for converting young American men who were once a part of the Democratic coalition.The hunt is ongoing. A US$20 million (S$25.6 million) “Speaking with American Men” project launched in 2025 by Democratic strategists and donors to bring them back, has one more year to finish the job.In the meantime, there’s Hasan Piker. The 35-year-old political commentator and live-streamer was something of a kingmaker for insurgent left-wing candidates during the Democratic Party primaries earlier this year, helping to test and refine the candidates’ messages, driving grassroots campaign donations and providing political visibility. As the Democrats look to claim a congressional majority in the Nov 3 midterm elections, a left-leaning influencer like him is a source of traction. On Oct 26, Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar turned to Piker to rev up her re-election campaign in a state that hit international headlines for heavy-handed immigration enforcement operations. Omar is favoured to win, unscathed by investigations into her immigration history and allegations of abuse of welfare funds, charges that she calls politically motivated. Omar was born in Somalia in 1982, and her family was admitted to the US as refugees in the mid-1990s after fleeing civil war.Still, she still sought out Piker, calling his massive reach necessary to tackle a decline in early voting among under-40 progressives.The late evening event in Minneapolis, where she conversed casually with Piker, reportedly sold out within minutes of being announced. The hour-long session where they bashed the Trump administration and moderate Democrats was livestreamed over Twitch, the platform where Piker has over three million subscribers, mostly young, progressive and male.Bespectacled and clad almost always in formal shirt, jacket and a tie, Piker goes live for around eight hours nearly every day of the week. Self-declared socialist-marxistBorn in New Jersey, he grew up in Turkey and describes himself as a cultural but not religious Muslim. His break into broadcasting, during the Covid-19 epidemic, came via his uncle Cenk Uygur, a co-founder of The Young Turks, a left-wing youtube channel.In between sharing his gym routine, handing out dating advice and discussing gaming, the highly articulate Piker weighs in with unrestrained emotion and expletives on the controversies of the day. The self-declared socialist-marxist is usually lambasting Wall Street, big banks, defence and pharma companies for everything from inflation and climate change to workplace safety.He is at his most volatile when it comes to American foreign policy. He has praised Hamas and warned that American Jewish support for Israel could prompt people to “take action” against them. He has also suggested that the US could learn from the Communist Party of China and described the collapse of the Soviet Union as one of the greatest geopolitical catastrophes of the 20th century. He has walked back his most controversial comments that “America deserved 9/11”.As with other streamers, outrage is a critical ingredient in his show, creating virality and deep engagement. It is also a rewarding venture, remuneration runs into millions of dollars for the top streamers, with money coming from paid memberships, platform advertising, sponsorships, merchandise and other audience-supported products. There is a more sensitive source too: funding from advocacy groups and Democratic-aligned intermediary organisations.To his viewers, Piker is a habit, a screen presence that validates their grievances and gives them a sense of belonging. From there, the flow into politics is seamless.Traditional Democratic leaders are wary of Piker but liberals like Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed, locked in a tight senatorial race, owe him. During El-Sayed’s primary battle in August 2026 with sitting congresswoman Haley Stevens, Piker was a bridge to young people distrustful of the Democratic Party but amenable to a personality they watched for hours. “One of the biggest stories of the 2026 election cycle is Hasan Piker,” said Joel Penney, an associate professor at Montclair State University who studies political communication.The Democratic Party has had many celebrities and liberal advocates but this turn of events is new, said Penney, the author of a 2022 book “Pop Culture, Politics, and the News”.“This is much more interactive and more about the ongoing relationship between the fans and the streamers. Piker is responding to fans in real time, I don’t see a lot of other folks who have become famous for that format, the mix of Democratic politics and lifestyle content,” he said.Other political commentators in the liberal sphere - such as Pod Save America, led by former Obama speech writer Jon Favreau, MeidasTouch by a former marine and registered Republican Ron Filipkowski, The Lincoln Project that features moderate conservatives and former members of the Republican Party - do not command Piker’s massive numbers nor adopt his unscripted, streaming format.Piker, inevitably, draws comparisons with Rogan and Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk radio phenomenon who held sway for three decades starting from the early 1990s and drew a weekly audience of around 15 million.“At their peaks, Rogan and Limbaugh had much greater audiences, in the tens of millions. I don’t think Piker is at that level. But he’s younger, and there’s always room for growth,” noted Aaron Kall, a political analyst at the University of Michigan.Piker’s extreme views, however, can be a drag for the Democrats. Being linked with him has constrained el-Sayed’s efforts to broaden his appeal. Trump and the Republicans paint the two as fundamentalist, America-hating liberals.“Piker’s sort of turned into a main character on Fox News reporting and conservative news outlets which are putting him in the spotlight as with the understanding that he would have a negative impact on the campaign,” Penney told The Straits Times.“He might be inspiring more people to vote who wouldn’t have otherwise, but he may also be turning off people or encouraging people to vote for the opponent,” he said.Will moderate swing voters be alienated?Indeed, for the Democratic leadership, it is a real fear that the polarising Piker will alienate the moderate swing voters. El-Sayed, who is on course to becoming the nation’s first Muslim senator if elected, has been called to disavow Piker but he has been reluctant, noted Kall.US Senate Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed appears on stage, with vote counting continuing for Michigan's Democratic US Senate primary, during an election night rally in Detroit, Michigan, US, on Aug 5. PHOTO: REUTERS“He probably perceives a double standard that rightwing influencers also say controversial things but the Republicans don’t have to disavow them.”With Piker by his side, El-Sayed may pick up some voters but also lose others. In Michigan, with sizable Jewish and Arab American communities, that balancing act is especially sensitive. It is probably the reason that the race is very tight and the association with Piker has taken up a disproportionate amount of the campaign, noted Kall.It’s an open question if Piker can convert his sway with the notoriously unreliable young voters to turnout, said Penney. “The election day results will be seen as a sort of a verdict on Piker,” he said.Piker himself sees no risk of attrition of voters because of association with him. “Getting people to be upset at a Twitch streamer and their affiliation... is going to be very difficult, especially when there are real crises going on in the country,” he said in an Oct 15 interview with National Public Radio, an American public broadcaster. Democratic Party lacks ‘clear, definable policies’The Democratic Party stands in its own way, he said.“You can’t podcast your way out of this problem. The problems are with a lack of clear, definable policies that the party represents at the national level. The star podcaster claims this lack of clarity is partly why the Democrats are “still largely very unpopular”.Even though Trump is the least popular political figure, perhaps in history, he said.