Dem seeking NY swing seat defends embracing extremist who said Hamas is 'a thousands times better' than Israel

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2026 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. Fox News host Laura Ingraham calls out the leftist influencer's radical ideas on 'The Ingraham Angle.' A progressive Democrat vying for a hotly contested New York swing seat in November’s midterm elections is defending her association with controversial far-left streamer Hasan Piker. Effie Phillips-Staley is facing backlash from her own party as she seeks the nomination to take on Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., after she went on Piker’s livestream in late March and called Israel an "apartheid state" and accused the Jewish nation of genocide in Gaza. Democratic county chairs within the suburban New York district Phillips-Staley is running to represent put out a joint statement denouncing Phillips-Staley for participating in the "normalization of antisemitic, racist and misogynist rhetoric." Despite the intraparty criticism, the candidate doubled down. She