Hasan Piker, a popular but controversial left-wing political commentator, is scheduled to join San Francisco congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti, left, for a Thursday rally to boost his campaign to succeed Rep. Nancy Pelosi.
Giselle Garza Lerma/S.F. Chronicle, Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic via Getty
Hasan Piker, a popular but controversial left-wing political commentator, is scheduled to join San Francisco congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti for a Thursday rally to boost his campaign to succeed Rep. Nancy Pelosi.
The backlash from Chakrabarti’s opponents has already begun, led by a San Francisco lawmaker who says Piker has no place in the Democratic Party because of his past incendiary comments.
Piker, whose social media channels have millions of followers, has emerged as a divisive figure in Democratic politics in recent years. Jewish groups and moderate Democrats have condemned his remarks about Israel, 9/11, American imperialism and Asian immigrants.
Still, progressive candidates in close races around the country have welcomed Piker’s support in recent years, including in a competitive congressional primary in Michigan this year.
Article continues below this ad
Chakrabarti, a wealthy former tech engineer running a progressive campaign to replace Pelosi, is betting Piker’s support will endear him to his legion of online followers. The pair have already posted multiple videos together, chatting about policy and sharing takeout from the popular Arabic restaurant Beit Rima.
Thursday’s “Change the Party” rally will be their first joint public appearance. Other candidates endorsed by the Justice Democrats, a progressive political group that works to help insurgent progressives in Democratic primaries, will also appear at the event. Chakrabarti has been critical of how the Democratic party has responded to President Donald Trump and called for party leaders to move in a more progressive direction.
San Francisco Chronicle Logo
Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.
Add Preferred Source
But Chakrabarti’s critics and opponents have criticized him for courting Piker’s support. On Wednesday, Supervisor Matt Dorsey said he plans to submit a resolution to his colleagues on the governing board of the San Francisco Democratic Party condemning Piker’s “vile, wildly divisive, and widely condemned rhetoric” and urging Chakrabarti to clarify if and how his views differ from Piker’s.
Should the resolution receive support from a majority of party board leaders, it would reject “any effort to ‘change’ our Democratic Party into a movement that accommodates or in any way condones Hasan Pikerʼs divisive brand of anti-American, antisemitic, anti-AAPI, terrorist-coddling, hate-espousing, misogynist, xenophobic, obscene and politically repellent viewpoints.”
Article continues below this ad
The party board won’t convene to vote on the resolution until later this month, but Dorsey said in a text message to the Chronicle that he felt it necessary to “elevate it sooner rather than later.”
Dorsey is backing one of Chakrabarti’s opponents, state Sen. Scott Wiener. Wiener’s campaign declined to comment on the resolution or Thursday’s rally.
Dorsey said he is worried about the party’s future, but he doesn’t want the solution to mean elevating “toxicity and divisiveness,” as he believes Chakrabarti is doing by featuring Piker at the rally.
“When I see somebody who is endeavoring to change the Democratic Party with principles that… are just anathema to what our party is about and that could be really destructive to our ability to ever win a majority in this country, I think we have to call that out,” Dorsey said.
Tiffaney Bradley, a spokesperson for Chakrabarti’s campaign, responded to Dorsey’s resolution in a statement Wednesday. Voters are facing dire crises including rising costs, war and an erosion of their civil rights “by an authoritarian government,” she said, and “the Democratic Party is failing to respond to this crisis and is polling at some of its lowest numbers in decades.”
Article continues below this ad
“The only option we have left is to use the democratic process to change our party, so if you see a rally of Democrats trying to inspire people to get involved as a threat — then you’re part of the problem,” Bradley said.
In April, the Republican National Committee resurfaced videos in which Piker expressed irritation with “first generation, second generation, third generation Asian” people “who are dogs to white people.”
Supervisor Connie Chan, another candidate running against Chakrabarti who was born in Hong Kong, condemned the rhetoric in a statement at the time.
“It is disappointing when we’ve become used to people making inflammatory and even racist remarks to get clout online,” she said. “We must demand that everyone, especially those with wide reach and influence, do better. That goes for political candidates too.”
Piker has stood by some of his most incendiary comments, including those about Asian immigrants, though he said those remarks had been taken out of context.
Article continues below this ad
“While my sentiment is vulgar, I stand on my principles,” Piker told Politico Playbook in April, explaining that he had been speaking about a Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action. “I’m talking for 10 hours every single day, seven days a week … of course there’s going to be opportunities to clip me out of context.”
Piker has also been a outspoken and highly controversial critic of the Israeli government and what he describes as “genocide” in Gaza, suggesting Israel deserved the Oct. 7 attack that left nearly 2,000 people dead, many of them civilians. He has also said reports that Hamas had raped women during the attacks don’t “matter” or “change the dynamic for me.” Piker has also spoken out against antisemitism and described it as a “hate crime.”
Dorsey, who has maintained his staunch support for Israel, also wrote in his resolution that Chakrabarti should “publicly acknowledge Hamas to be a genocidal terrorist organization” and suggested that Piker and his fans should “pursue the formation of their own party and to get out of ours.”