The University of Texas’ College Democrats chapter invited antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker to speak on campus at the end of the month, sparking outrage from Jewish leaders and students on campus and generating a potential political firestorm in a red state hosting consequential elections in November’s midterms. 

The event, hosted by the University Democrats, a decades-old student Democratic party political organization, is scheduled to be held on Sept. 30, amid the final stretch of Texas’ highly competitive Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico and a competitive gubernatorial contest between GOP Gov. Greg Abbott and Democrat Gina Hinojosa.

“Hasan Piker said America deserved 9/11 and praised the brutal terrorist organization Hamas. University Democrats at UT Austin are choosing to amplify that disgusting rhetoric. Terrorist sympathizers have no place in Texas,” an Abbott spokesperson told Jewish Insider. 

Asked about Piker’s invitation, Hinojosa’s campaign spokesperson did not address the issue. “Gina will be in East Texas that day talking about securing the American Dream by saving our schools and putting money in your pocket,” Hinojosa spokesperson Tommy Kubitschek said. 

Madison Cercy, a Paxton campaign spokesperson, told JI, “James Talarico and Hasan Piker are both leaders of the same Democratic Socialist Movement that wants to raise taxes, trans your children, and abolish prisons. They welcome extreme radicals into their base and don’t bat an eye when they start chanting ‘death to America.’” 

Talarico’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment from JI about the invitation for Piker to speak on campus at the state’s flagship public university. 

Piker, who has an extensive history of antisemitic and anti-American rhetoric, including justifying Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, calling Orthodox Jews “inbred,” and asserting in 2019 that America deserved 9/11 — a remark he later said he should have phrased better while standing by the underlying critique — has praised Talarico. 

The University of Texas, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and the Texas Democratic Party did not respond to requests for comments from JI. Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX), who co-chairs the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, also declined to comment.  

Jewish students, faculty and parents at the University of Texas told JI that the upcoming event marks a negative shift for a campus that they said had previously been one of the most welcoming in the country for Jewish students since Oct. 7. Some are pushing the public university to cancel the event, though they noted this is unlikely to happen because of free speech protections.

“My concern is not that Hasan Piker holds views I disagree with, it is that his public rhetoric has repeatedly crossed a line that Jewish students should not be expected to ignore simply because it is framed as political commentary,” Ella Trubek, a senior at UT majoring in psychology, told JI. 

“When someone with an enormous platform has spoken about American Jews eventually facing ‘action,’ referred to Orthodox Jews as ‘inbred’ and repeatedly used rhetoric that many Jewish students experience as dehumanizing, inviting him onto our campus has a real impact on how safe and supported our community feels. Jewish students at UT are not asking to be protected from uncomfortable conversations; we are asking the university to recognize the difference between discomfort and feeling genuinely targeted. I love UT, and I believe our concerns deserve to be taken seriously.”

Trubek, who is president of the campus AEPhi chapter, wrote a letter to University of Texas President Jim Davis to reconsider holding the Piker event on campus. Davis has not yet responded to the request, according to Trubek. 

Lisa Strauss, the parent of a UT student, described the Austin campus as handling the 2024 anti-Israel encampment movement that roiled campuses nationwide “extremely well,” noting it was one of the first universities in the country to ban encampments and non-students from entering campus to protest.  

“That was a great thing for all students, not just Jewish students,” she told JI. “Everything has been pretty quiet on our campus since then. When this came out a week ago, that College Democrats were bringing him, the first response was that surely UT can shut this down.” 

Strauss pointed to the University of Washington, where a student group recently planned to host Piker. The university canceled the event, citing a flawed planning process. The College Democrats of America also hosted Piker as a surprise speaker at its national convention last month, which drew condemnation from the group’s own Jewish Caucus over Piker’s history of antisemitic comments.

“When we dug further into what we should do as a community, everyone mobilized immediately, emailing and calling the president of the university, the governor’s office, our senators and the response we kept getting was they’re not sure they can do anything about it because of free speech and this is not being brought by the university. While it is going to be held on campus, it’s being brought by a student group,” said Strauss. “They can’t prevent a student group from bringing a speaker.” 

“That’s one of the more upsetting things, that a mainstream organization is bringing this versus Students for Justice in Palestine or one of those,” she continued. 

Rabbi Stephanie Max, executive director of University of Texas Hillel, said in a statement that the irony of the event being hosted during Sukkot, a holiday that encourages welcoming guests, “is disturbing.” 

“We value our campus — with its obligations and limitations around free speech —  as a place for disagreement, pluralism and debate … Mr. Piker’s views however go against our values as Americans and Jews, and his hateful, antisemitic rhetoric is repulsive.”  

Max said Hillel leaders are in ongoing contact with university officials regarding the event. 

Jewish Insider congressional correspondent Emily Jacobs contributed reporting.