Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET, Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made her debut on streaming platform Twitch to encourage viewers to vote. Peaking at 435,000 concurrent viewers, the stream quickly became one of the 20 biggest streams of all time, according to TwitchTracker. The stream, which lasted three and a half hours, has now garnered almost 5 million views.
It all started with a tweet. On Monday, Ocasio-Cortez posted: “Anyone want to play Among Us with me on Twitch to get out the vote? (I’ve never played but it looks like a lot of fun).”
Immediately, responses skyrocketed, showing support and willingness to join in.
Later that day, Ocasio-Cortez went to Best Buy, where streaming equipment was out of stock. The community was quick to lend a helping hand, delivering a webcam and mic to her apartment and making graphics for her account. She went live the very next night.
“This whole thing came together really in a day and half,” she said, calling the process very “grassroots”.
Ocasio-Cortez played against fellow Democratic representative Ilhan Omar and Twitch VIPs, such as pokimane, HasanAbi and Myth.
During the stream, Ocasio-Cortez mentioned Iwillvote.com and advised viewers to get their voting plan in place, endorsing Biden and Harris.
“Of course, we are here to vote blue,” she said. “…Let’s make sure we change this country.”
Among Us is a recently viral game similar to Mafia. To begin the game, one crewmate is replaced by a parasitic shapeshifter, or “impostor”. Their goal is to eliminate the rest of the crew before the ship reaches home. The “impostor” will deceive and frame others to remain anonymous while killing off the crew. The surviving crew debates who they think the “impostor” is until they guess right and vote off the traitor.
“I really, really hope I don’t get ‘impostor’ first… Please don’t let me be ‘impostor’,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
Of course, she jinxed herself and in the first round of the game, she was named the “impostor,” tasked with killing her crewmates. She accidentally reported herself after making her first kill, almost giving herself away.
“I’m a really bad liar,” she said. Ocasio-Cortez explained that when she was a community organizer, she was asked if she would ever get into politics. She said she responded “no way” because she’s a “bad liar.”
Although this was her first time streaming from her own account, Ocasio-Cortez isn’t new to Twitch. Last January, she joined a Donkey Kong 64 stream to raise money for transgender kids with YouTuber Harry Brewis, aka “Hbomberguy”. She also isn’t a stranger to the gaming world. She’s ranked a “Silver III” in League of Legends, although she claims she hasn’t played in “so long.”
Ocasio-Cortez hopes Tuesday night’s stream was not her last. To stay updated, check out Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitter.
