The Democratic nominee for a competitive House seat in Michigan was seen groveling before the far-left influencer Hasan Piker—who has said the United States deserved the 9/11 terrorist attacks—and trying to get on Piker's streaming show.
William Lawrence, a climate activist and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, fawned over Piker after fellow leftist Abdul El-Sayed introduced him to the antisemitic streamer at an event in Michigan—believed to be in early April—for El-Sayed's Senate campaign.
"You're the man," Lawrence said in a video that began circulating online Friday. "I'd love to get on the stream sometime."
Lawrence then handed Piker a piece of paper, which the streamer accepted.
WTF. Michigan Democrat William Lawrence FAN GIRLS and loses his mind over meeting Hasan Piker.
"You're the man. I'd love to get on the stream sometime."
They are putting a terrorist sympathizer on a pedestal. pic.twitter.com/SHuYjBNtt1
— Jack (@jackunheard) August 14, 2026
The petite El-Sayed introduced the pair before noting how short he felt next to Piker and Lawrence, who are both tall. Lawrence, with a rapid, elevator-pitch-style delivery, made his case to Piker, calling himself a "progressive organizer, cofounder of the Sunrise Movement, running against two carpetbagging war hawks."
Though his race to represent Michigan's Seventh Congressional District flew under the radar compared with El-Sayed's marquee fight, Lawrence would cruise to a primary victory earlier this month over former ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink and Navy SEAL veteran Matt Maasdam.
Lawrence will face Republican incumbent Tom Barrett. The seat is a tossup, and both parties are expected to contest it vigorously.
Lawrence is the cofounder of the Sunrise Movement, a progressive nonprofit, and was a significant proponent of the so-called Green New Deal—elements of which were later incorporated into former president Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act.
His campaign website is a smorgasbord of progressive pablum in which he promises to prosecute "the Epstein class" and falsely accuses Israel of committing "genocide."
In his pitch to Piker, Lawrence can be heard rattling off his left-wing credentials, saying he's "pro-Palestine, anti-war, yes to housing and health care, no to bombs and billionaires."
Despite the great importance of Lawrence's House race—with control of Congress in the balance—Piker seemed somewhat disengaged and was friendly but noncommittal to his eager admirer.
The behind-the-scenes moment at the El-Sayed event offers a rare glimpse at the enormous sway Piker commands among the far left, as well as the chumminess between Piker and El-Sayed.
El-Sayed's introduction of Lawrence to Piker resembled—if one can overlook the height disparity—one frat brother introducing a pledge to a fellow frat brother.
Piker, a surrogate for El-Sayed, began his career as a recurring guest on his uncle Cenk Uygur's YouTube show The Young Turks.
The show's name is taken from the group responsible for committing the Armenian genocide.
After spending much of his time marketing himself as a "total misogynist" and pickup artist, Piker eventually moved to a more hard-edged progressive politics.
In addition to once declaring that "America deserved 9/11" on his social media accounts, Piker has produced a volcanic stream of inflammatory comments, often in support of terrorism or communist regimes.
"I got stopped by a cop who thought I was, like, making fun of, of Mao Zedong, which I never would and never will," Piker said of a 2025 visit to Beijing. "Mao Zedong is … one of the great leaders of, of this world, OK? A man who changed the entire universe, the entire planet."
"I'm a lesser-evil voter and therefore I would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time," Piker said during an April 2026 appearance on the podcast Pod Save America.
Piker has accused Orthodox Jews of being "inbred."
"I do not have a single issue with Hezbollah as a form of militancy trying to incur penalties on the genocidal state of Israel," he said on a Twitch stream with Ethan Klein in May 2025. In June of that year, when Piker was asked on another podcast about his favorite flag, he responded, "Hezbollah."
While DSA candidates have romped to victory in progressive strongholds like New York City, the outlook is far murkier for them in a swing state like Michigan, which twice voted for President Donald Trump.
Though polls had El-Sayed a double-digit lead in the Michigan Democratic primary, he ended up pulling out the nomination by less than 1 point.
