Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) voiced his support for Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul el Sayed after he apologized for comments perceived by many Democratic establishment figures as antisemitic and for his association with an inflammatory left-wing streamer.
In a Sunday appearance on NBC News’s Meet the Press, Clyburn said he had spoken with el Sayed and would be supporting him in the general election.
“I have spoken with the good doctor. He’s our nominee. I support his election. I take him at his word. He has apologized. He says he will not campaign with Piker anymore. I’d say that it’s worth checking him at his word,” he said. “All of us deserve second chances.”
By Piker, Clyburn was referring to Hasan Piker, a left-wing streamer known for saying the United States “deserved” 9/11, among other inflammatory comments.
The comments Sayed apologized for occurred in March, after a Lebanese immigrant rammed his truck into a Michigan synagogue. Sayed responded at the time by saying “violence is a cycle” and that “hurt people hurt people.” He apologized for the comments to the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus on Saturday, saying he was sorry “If my statement caused pain.”
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“That was not what I intended,” he said.
Clyburn’s public embrace of Sayed is another blow for the Democratic establishment’s previous efforts to halt the surge of Democratic Socialist of America-adjacent candidates. El Sayed won the highest-profile Democratic civil war when he beat the establishment’s preferred candidate, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI).