Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Tom Williams/Getty Images
When it comes to Twitch, it seems AOC is doing A-OK. US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York returned to the gaming site Friday for a livestream of her and others playing the hugely popular social deduction game Among Us, and in the process helped raise $200,000 for people in need during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We did it!” AOC said in a tweet. “$200k raised in one livestream (on a whim!) for eviction defense, food pantries, and more. This is going to make such a difference for those who need it most right now. Thank you all.”
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The 5-hour-plus livestream followed one from late last month, in which AOC played Among Us in an effort to get out the vote for Election Day. That stream, which saw AOC gaming alongside fellow Squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, became one of the most watched in Twitch’s history.
Read more: How to play Among Us online, and why it’s suddenly so popular
Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitch efforts are just the latest example of politicians adopting web-era approaches to reach new audiences. Last June, during his presidential campaign, near-octogenarian Bernie Sanders launched a Twitch channel, hoping to tap the internet-platform-du-jour to get his message out to younger voters.
And earlier this month, after the presidential contest between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was called in favor of Biden, VP-elect Kamala Harris posted a web-casual smartphone video on Twitter showing her dialing up Biden to congratulate him.
Perhaps most famously (or infamously), Trump has used Twitter over the last four years to sidestep mainstream media and try to take hold of the political narrative.
