NEW YORK — If Tuesday’s sweep by Democratic socialists across New York validated Mayor Zohran Mamdani as the city’s kingmaker, it also established controversial streamer Hasan Piker as an emerging power behind the throne.

The Twitch star and political commentator spent Election Day crisscrossing the city, lending his audience of millions to candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.

On Tuesday afternoon, he slid out of a black SUV and into a Brooklyn dive bar to rally volunteers who had assembled to support Claire Valdez, a union organizer and artist running to represent a swath of Brooklyn and Queens dubbed the “Commie Corridor” for its left-wing political bent.

His enthusiastic reception underscored the standing that Piker holds on the left, particularly with younger activists.

Positioned as the left’s answer to influential podcasters like Joe Rogan and Ben Shapiro, the streaming star commands a sizable audience – and the conservative broadcasters’ penchant for no-holds-barred commentary. It’s also created a quandary for Democrats eager to rebuild their relationship with Gen Z but nervous about associating with someone whose fiery indictments of Israel and US foreign policy routinely earn bipartisan criticism.

Piker has called Zionism an “exterminationist ideology” and regularly describes the Israeli state as “genocidal.” His statement that “America deserved 9/11” – arguing later that the US had “brought it on itself” – became a flashpoint in Mamdani’s own mayoral campaign.

Piker subsequently said the comment was inappropriate, and in his livestreams, often condemns antisemitism, saying his criticisms of Israel are specific to its government. He’s broadly dismissed the ongoing debate over the risks of associating with him as overblown, based on a mischaracterization of his views, or the obsession of a legacy media and Democratic establishment out of step with the way the left’s next generation sees the world.

For candidates vying in Mamdani’s New York, those controversies were far from the focus.

“Hopefully they’re going to be seeing how red the Commie Corridor is all the way from space,” Piker quipped at the bar. He trotted to a nearby park to hand out pamphlets and approached a man, out walking his dog, who did not know it was Election Day.

“Let’s lock you down for Claire Valdez!” Piker said. Thousands of viewers on his livestream, from across the world, cheered him on.

Later that night, Valdez emerged from a crowded Democratic field to clinch the primary by more than 20 points, part of a wave for DSA-backed candidates across the city.

The night served as a capstone for Piker, who decided to spend the year traveling to interview and promote young, socialist candidates across the country. He livestreamed the results on his Twitch channel, where he counts three million followers.

At breakfast the next morning at his New York City hotel, Piker argued he was bringing focus to primary races that “are not getting the media attention they deserve,” and that he can reach voters who have a “diverse media diet and aren’t as predisposed to like mainstream outlets.”

Teens and young adults are increasingly turning to influencers like Piker for their news. Eighty-one percent of teens receive at least some news from content creators, according to a poll from the Media Insight Project. More than half of all American teenagers and adults – 57% — say the same.

On Tuesday, Piker argued he represented more than the views of young voters.

“There are a lot of older people that are also sick and tired of the do-nothing Democrats, and they want real change, they want real fighters, and we’re seeing that impact right now,” he said.

Still, Piker’s efforts to exert influence have been dogged by reactions to his more radical political opinions. Earlier in June, his plans to speak at South by Southwest London and the Oxford Union were dashed when the British Home Office prevented him from entering the country. Shortly after, three venues in Denver canceled his appearance with two Colorado Democratic congressional primary candidates for the House and Senate. The venues cited security concerns, according to the Denver Post.

Nor has his appeal always translated outside deep blue districts.

Several candidates endorsed or interviewed by Piker have gone on to lose their races, including three in California, where Piker lives. Ritchie Torres, a Democratic congressman from the Bronx who avoided upset from a progressive challenger on Tuesday night, called him “the antisemitic poster child for a systematically antisemitic social media platform” in an email to Amazon.com Inc., which owns Twitch, protesting his comments.

Piker taunted Torres in a stream after Tuesday night, saying the congressman “stopped talking about Israel.”

“What happened?” Piker continued. “See you in two years.”

Prominent Democratic US senators including New Jersey’s Cory Booker, Arizona’s Ruben Gallego, and Michigan’s Elissa Slotkin told Politico earlier this year they would not be willing to appear on Piker’s show.

But while the provocative comments have grabbed headlines, candidates and operatives seeking Piker’s assistance say he puts in the work to help their campaigns.

When Valdez was a little-known candidate vying against longtime community organizer and politician Antonio Reynoso, Piker flew to New York to go bowling with the candidate on his livestream. He’s helped phone bank for candidates and is in regular touch with the DSA, while noting he does not take direction from the party.

Piker also says he texts with Mamdani, whose mayoral bid he aggressively supported.

“I think Hasan Piker is actually an extremely significant political figure on the left in this country, and I don’t say that lightly,” said Andrew Epstein, Valdez’s communications director.

Amid the celebration, Piker on Wednesday downplayed his role helping shape the results, insisting he is simply a vessel for changing political winds.

“A lot of the media focus will be on characters, on individuals,” Piker said. “But the reality of the matter is this is a movement comprised of people who want to center the working class in their politics, that are sick and tired of the way things are going.”

____

(With assistance from Samuel A. Church.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.