June 05, 2026 11:22 AM UTC

Colorado Isn't Hasan Piker Country

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• by: Colorado Pols

As Westword’s Hannah Metzger reports, apropos to a discussion we had last week:

Socialist political commentator Hasan Piker is coming to Denver on June 14 to support progressive candidates challenging some of Colorado’s most powerful Democrats. The rally at Tracks dance hall will feature Melat Kiros — who is running against U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, Colorado’s longest-serving member of Congress — and State Sen. Julie Gonzales, who is running against U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, a former governor of Colorado and mayor of Denver…

Like his online counterparts on the right, Piker has attracted controversy, including for saying “America deserved 9/11” and for his outspoken criticisms of Israel, which Jewish organizations have argued venture into antisemitic rhetoric and reportedly resulted in Piker being barred from visiting the UK. But many view the streamer as a valuable tool to recapture voters who have lost faith or interest in the Democratic Party, particularly young men.

Hasan Piker’s shock-jock tendency toward outrageously incendiary rhetoric that frequently condones mass violence has boosted his nationwide profile in a media climate that rewards extremity with monetized clicks. But does that approach translate to success in persuading a majority of Democratic primary voters to support Piker’s favored candidates? Not so much:

Piker has recently begun trying to leverage his online clout into electoral influence, to little success. He campaigned for winning primary candidate Adam Hamawy in the New Jersey Congressional race, but three candidates he backed in his home state of California all lost their races, Politico reports.

Kiros and Gonzales’s races could serve as a test of the limits of Piker’s political power IRL.

Last week, we criticized Democraic CO-01 DSA candidate Melat Kiros for her remarks on Piker’s show in which she justified the killing of over 1,000 Israelis on October 7th, 2023 as the “inevitable consequence” of Israeli “occupation.” We don’t doubt that this extreme opinion would have come out in another setting, as criticism of Israel is pretty much Kiros’ single issue as a candidate. But it is the permissive climate for this kind of rhetoric that Hasan Piker facilitates on his show that brings these indefensible–or at least hotly debatable–views out so candidly. As we’ve said previously, there is plenty of room to be critical of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians without justifying the mass killing of Israeli citizens. That is the only moral high ground that exists in this debate, and these folks have ceded it.

And that is, we think, why Hasan Piker isn’t helping candidates win elections. There just aren’t a majority of voters, even Democratic primary voters, interested in this bloodthirsty young man’s opinion. Testing the “limits of Piker’s political power” is more about defending the bounds of common decency. That is, unless you really believe “America deserved 9/11.”

To the extent he matters at all, we believe Colorado voters will know how to answer Hasan Piker. And bringing him to Colorado will be remembered as a mistake.