Last night (Oct 20), Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took her politics to a favorite pastime amongst young voters–playing video games. The Latina congresswoman hosted a live-streamed on Twitch as she played “Among Us” to encourage gamers to get out and vote. She was joined by her progressive peer Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and several celebrity streamers including Pokemane, Jacksepticeye, and HasanAbi.
“Among Us” is a multiplayer social deduction video game set on a space ship for four to ten players and has a video streaming component. Each participant, called crewmates, is assigned a role and sets out to complete tasks while avoiding getting killed by “imposters.” AOC isn’t the first to use the game as a platform for organizing voters. Other activists have joined the virtual fun to raise awareness such as gun violence activist Cameron Kasky, a survivor of the Stoneman Douglas school shooting massacre.
Over 400,000 people joined the live stream that now has garnered more than 4.7 million views. The game she hosted has become the third-highest Twitch viewership. During the 3 ½ hour broadcast in which AOC frequently encouraged the audience to make a voting plan at IWillVote.com and ”declare orange sus.” Between playful banter with other streamers, she discussed everything from health care to trans rights. Although AOC was new to the platform, she now has over 561,000 followers. In comparison, President Donald Trump has 143,000 followers.
Ocasio-Cortez is no stranger to finding innovative ways to communicate with voters. She often jumps onto Instagram Live to dish out information as she goes about mundane tasks such as cooking or doing her makeup. She’s also previously used video games as a soapbox as she went on the Nintendo Switch game “Animal Crossing” and virtually interacted with folks earlier this year.