Progressive streamer Hasan Piker joins California 7th District candidate Mai Vang at canvassing rally

Jennah Pendleton, The Sacramento Bee on Oct 29, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America saw record turnout at a canvassing event for congressional candidate Mai Vang Wednesday night, thanks in part to a celebrity appearance.

Hasan Piker, a left-wing streamer and divisive political commentator, took the Southside Park stage in Sacramento on Wednesday afternoon to rally support for Vang in her bid to unseat longtime incumbent Doris Matsui for the 7th Congressional District seat.

Over the course of two livestreams, including one Wednesday, Piker has helped raise $91,000 for Vang’s campaign.

“I’m really honored to be here on this stage with two wonderful people, but also in front of hundreds of people who are going to shape the destiny of the California Democratic Party and perhaps the rest of the country, if not the world,” Piker said.

Piker’s popularity among young left-leaning voters has propelled him beyond the internet and into the national spotlight as a prominent voice on the American left. The Twitch streamer has thrown his weight behind several progressive candidates and DSA members seeking congressional seats in the 2026 midterm elections.

Before his stop in Sacramento, Piker joined Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn, at a sold-out campaign event in Minnesota. He has also been associated with Abdul El-Sayed’s Senate campaign in Michigan.

“Doris Matsui — I was driving around town earlier and we’re passing by the courthouse and her name is on the side of it,” Piker said of the federal court building that was named after Matsui’s first husband, who died in 2005 while serving in Congress. “This is the type of person that does not run and win power for the constituents, for the people, but simply as a vanity project.”

Matsui’s campaign has attacked Vang’s association with Piker, blasting her for associating with an “extremist” in a recent TV ad. Her campaign has pointed to an inflammatory joke he made in 2023 suggesting that rich white men should be segregated in their own colleges so they could only date-rape rich white women, which he suggested would be better “from a utilitarian perspective.”

Vang has responded to concerns about her association with Piker by saying that she is meeting the people where they are at. On Tuesday, the Sac DSA canvassing event drew a crowd of more than 200 people, a record for the chapter. About 100 stayed to door-knock for Vang and Emily Smet, a DSA-endorsed candidate running for the nonpartisan American River Flood Control District board.

____