Hasan Piker vows he will pressure James Talarico to govern as a leftist, not a moderate

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Left-wing streamer Hasan Piker vowed Wednesday that he would push Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico to govern as a leftist rather than a moderate Democrat if Talarico was elected.

"Hopefully after James Talarico wins, we’ve got to hold him to account," Piker said during a campus event at the University of Texas at Austin. "We've got to make sure that he doesn’t become another, ‘do nothing Democrat’ ‘business as usual’ and we've got to keep up that pressure." 

"We have to remind him that we are the force that backed him both early on," he continued. "We are the force that allowed him to win this seat of power and if he wants to maintain it, he’s got to play ball. Right?"

"And, that’s good to build a resilient movement anyway, so job’s not done even after he wins," Piker added. "So, just remember that, and you know, remember that we do hold a lot of power in mass organizing."

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Fox News Digital reached out to Talarico's campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response. 

Talarico has moderated his rhetoric during his run for Senate, disavowing some of his past statements.

Piker, an internet personality popular on the Twitch platform, has become a major player in left-wing politics in recent years and has a long history of controversial comments, ranging from saying "America deserved 9/11" to praising an official in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration after a clip showed her saying she wanted to "impoverish the White middle-class."

Proximity to Piker has been a lightning rod for Democrats. Since the left-wing streamer appeared with Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed on the campaign trail, the candidate repeatedly tried to shrug off Piker’s controversial remarks.

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Jesse Arm, a Manhattan Institute vice president and pollster from Michigan, wondered whether Talarico’s avowed moderation will stick.

"Talarico is wise to acknowledge, in effect, that many of his past comments on key policy questions were absurd, but Texans have reason to wonder whether his convictions have changed or merely his political incentives," he told Fox News Digital. "If he is as wise a lawmaker as he is a crafty politician, he will govern as the more moderate liberal he currently purports to be."

"Hasan Piker’s faction can certainly exert pressure," he added. "And I would expect it to push Talarico back toward his earlier, more radical positions on policing, gender, race, immigration, and energy."

A better indicator, he argued, was the fact that genuinely moderate Democrats have been driven out of office.

"We cannot know how Talarico would govern, but the broader Democratic Party gives us plenty of reason for skepticism: Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema were driven out, and John Fetterman faces endless hostility for breaking with its activist orthodoxy," he said. "Governing as a genuine moderate would give Talarico a better chance of keeping a Texas Senate seat beyond an unusually favorable Democratic election cycle, but Piker is already openly demanding that he ‘play ball’ with the far left."

Arm suggested that Piker might actually be making a tactical mistake by suggesting Democrats are only campaigning as moderates, but will govern like leftists.

"Above perhaps all else, this episode exposes Piker’s political stupidity: publicly suggesting that a candidate’s moderation is temporary and that radicals will call the shots threatens the very victory he claims to want," Arm said. "In truth, I suspect Piker would prefer an election cycle in which Talarico comes up short but El-Sayed gets across the finish line. That would help advance Piker’s position that radicalism is the only viable path forward for the Democratic Party."

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Former Democratic advisor Dan Turrentine suggested that Piker has vastly overestimated his importance both now and after the election.

"Hasan Piker is living in fantasy world," he said. "He did not elect Talarico in the primary. Progressives were split, with many going for Jasmine Crockett." 

"If Talarico wins the general, it will be because he appealed to a significant number of R’s in a state Trump won by 14% in ’24," Turrentine continued. "If Talarico wins, it will be in spite of Piker, not because of him."

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"Same, if they win, for Roy Cooper in NC, Josh Turek in IA, Mary Peltola in AK, and Sherrod Brown in OH," he added. "The Senate majority runs through the middle of the electorate, not Twitch."

Alexander Hall is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Alexander.hall@fox.com.