El-Sayed apologizes to Jewish Democrats as he seeks to bridge party divides | CNN Politics

Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan Democratic Senate nominee, is scrambling this weekend to try to win over skeptical Jewish Democrats — meeting individually and with groups of Jewish party leaders and apologizing for controversial past remarks as he tries to unite a fractured party before November. But he downplayed the importance of his relationship with Hasan Piker, the far-left Twitch streamer who campaigned with El-Sayed during the primary — even after Piker told his audience earlier this month that Israel has become so toxic American Jews who support the country could be met with violence. “I don’t ever want my comments to hurt anybody’s feelings. It’s important to me that people understand that I take seriously the pain of all communities in this state,” El-Sayed told CNN. “But I don’t want to have a conversation about a Twitch streamer in California. It’s just not a serious conversation.” El-Sayed, the progressive firebrand, defeated Rep. Haley Stevens, a moderate who was supported by tens of millions in spending linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, in a hard-fought primary early this month. He is seeking to unify the Democratic Party ahea