Senate hopeful Abdul El‑Sayed spent the weekend trying to repair relations with Jewish Democrats in Michigan, but his Republican opponent called the apology a “sham.”

El‑Sayed appeared Saturday before the Michigan Democrats’ Jewish Caucus and answered a Fox News Digital question, apologizing for comments he made after a March attack on a Detroit‑area synagogue. He refused to fully repudiate controversial remarks made by left‑wing streamer Hasan Piker, a strong supporter of his campaign.

A vocal critic of Israel who calls its Gaza campaign “genocide,” El‑Sayed is running against former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee, for a key open Senate seat that Democrats need to keep to try to regain control of the chamber in the midterms.

El‑Sayed’s slim primary win over moderate Rep. Haley Stevens in a heated intra‑party fight was seen as a major left‑wing victory in the battle over the Democratic Party’s future. He spoke at the state party’s nominating convention in Lansing, trying to bring Democrats together after the primary.

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U.S. Senate hopeful Abdul El‑Sayed speaks at the Michigan Democratic Party convention on Aug. 29, 2026, in Lansing. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)

Fox News Digital asked El‑Sayed about a controversy after his remarks on a Michigan synagogue attack, where investigators say a gunman inspired by Hezbollah drove into the synagogue to kill as many Jews as possible. The attacker, a Lebanese‑born man, had lost relatives in an Israeli airstrike a week earlier.

“Hurt people, hurt people,” El‑Sayed said after the attack. He was criticized by party members, including Secretary of State Dana Nessel, who discussed the remarks on The Atlantic and skipped the weekend convention over antisemitism concerns.

El‑Sayed told Fox News Digital his words “might have been misread as justifying something I never meant to justify,” and then apologized.

“To anyone who feels my comments were hurtful, I’m really sorry. That was not my aim. We condemned the terrorist attack fully,” El‑Sayed said. “I was trying to give context, but it was not the time, and we must never trample on someone’s pain.”

El‑Sayed is an epidemiologist and former Wayne County health director who would become the nation’s first Muslim senator if elected. He has opposed unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel and often avoids answering whether Israel has a right to exist.

He told Jewish voters, “We may not agree on foreign policy. I will keep fighting for Palestinian self‑determination, but that does not stop me from standing for safety of all communities, including Jewish children, just as I care for my own kids.”

Before taking reporters’ questions, El‑Sayed met the state’s Democratic Jewish Caucus in Lansing.

“He had a very good meeting with us,” delegate Daniel Rivkin said to Fox News Digital. “We are having real conversations.”

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Former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate candidate, announced a ‘Dems for Mike’ coalition on Aug. 20, 2026, in Detroit. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Hours earlier, some Michigan Jewish leaders published an open letter urging Jewish Democrats and independents to support Rogers, who is running again after losing by 20,000 votes in 2024.

The letter said, “Many of us have strongly backed Democratic candidates, but we feel threatened by Abdul El‑Sayed’s politics, which include demonizing Jews, equivocation on terrorism, excluding Jewish Americans, and hateful rhetoric toward Israel.”

Rogers highlighted the letter, claiming “El‑Sayed fans the flames of antisemitism. We are fighting to put them out.”

On Fox News’s “Fox and Friends,” Rogers said, “Many Jewish Democrats have called us, saying they can’t continue with El‑Sayed.”

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Rogers said about El‑Sayed, “When someone says you might be offended by what I said, that is not an apology.”

He added that El‑Sayed “has a long history of antisemitic and inflammatory remarks.”

El‑Sayed replied, “My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to my own children. We must fight antisemitism wherever it appears.”

El‑Sayed’s effort to win over Jewish Democrats is made harder by the support he receives from Piker.

Piker recently streamed an image of state Sen. Jeremy Moss, the Democratic candidate for Michigan’s 11th district. Moss, who is Jewish, said a fake audio clip claims he runs only to keep America supporting Israel.

Piker warned, “If Jews keep saying they are only interested in Israel, eventually someone will act against American Jews, not Israel itself.”

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Abdul El‑Sayed, a progressive Senate candidate, chats poolside with streamer Hasan Piker at a creator‑support party in Detroit on Aug. 3, 2026. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)

Piker, who endorsed El‑Sayed and attended campaign events, repeatedly defends his past critical comments about Israel’s war in Gaza.

El‑Sayed, who this week tried to distance himself from Piker, said, “I am crystal clear: only I and my campaign staff speak for this campaign.”

On Saturday, reporters asked El‑Sayed many questions about Piker.

“We are in Michigan. If you want to make this race about a California streamer, you are missing the point,” El‑Sayed told reporters. “This race is about affordability, health care, and Trump’s disastrous policies in Michigan. That is my focus.”

When questions about Piker kept coming, El‑Sayed kept calling him “a streamer from California” who is irrelevant to his Michigan race. “This is not a serious conversation.”

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Besides his antisemitic remarks, Piker is known for saying “America deserved 9/11,” praising Mao Zedong, and calling for the murder of capitalists in the streets.

Democrats’ split over Israel appears as most GOP leaders continue to back Israeli leaders. At the Republican Jewish Coalition’s summit in Las Vegas, El‑Sayed and the far‑left were booed by high‑level GOP activists and donors.

Meanwhile, the fight between the left and the center for the Democratic Party’s future shows no sign of slowing.

Rahm Emanuel, former ambassador, congressman, Chicago mayor and Obama’s chief of staff, attacked the socialist push against the party establishment.

“The Democratic Party will not be taken over,” Emanuel, who is considering a 2028 White House run, told Fox News’s Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.”

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Emanuel said, “I don’t see Democratic Socialists as part of the Democratic Party. Four weeks ago they held a convention in Chicago as a separate party. They want to defund police, release prisoners, open borders, and eliminate the Pentagon. If you think people want that, I’ll see you on the ballot in November.”

Democratic leaders often describe the party as a “big tent” when asked about internal ideological battles.

But veteran strategist Julian Epstein criticizes that view, accusing the party of failing to call out the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Epstein wrote in the New York Post, “They hide behind the empty ‘Big Tent’ lie while radical DSA members like Michigan’s Abdul El‑Sayed and Colorado’s Melat Kiros win primaries.”

Epstein, former chief counsel for the Democratic minority during the 1998 Clinton impeachment and later on Hillary Clinton’s campaign, argued, “Moderates should unite and drop the Big Tent illusion – they have nothing to lose but their chains.”

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With the House back in session, a resolution to “condemn socialism in all its forms” could be voted on later this week.

Rep. Jeff Crank, R‑Colo., introduced a measure Thursday condemning all forms of socialism, telling Fox News Digital he wants the vote to force moderate House Democrats to publicly oppose the DSA.

Fox News’s James Cirrone contributed to this report

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Paul Steinhauser covers the national campaign trail from coast to coast for Fox News