Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the interactive politician. She knocks on doors; she receives neon Post-it devotionals at her Capitol Hill office. She makes macaroni and cheese and fields climate policy questions on Instagram Live. Tonight, she went live on the streaming platform Twitch to do something she says she hates more than anything, in front of 440,000 live viewers: lie.
Ocasio-Cortez was playing Among Us, a recently viral game with Mafia-like mechanics. On Monday she had soft-launched her Twitch channel with a coy tweet asking whether anybody might be interested in playing with her. In a parenthetical, she added, “I’ve never played but it looks like a lot of fun.” The response was frenetic. A who’s who of internet celebrities threw their blue checkmarks in the ring—makeup YouTuber James Charles, KindaFunny’s Greg Miller, actress Felicia Day, even Chelsea Manning, who is currently building her own gaming PC. Also coy, lefty politics streamer Hasan Piker—noted AOC fanboy and Young Turks alumni—responded with a lowercase “hi!”.
Then came the gamers. Imane “Pokimane” Anys replied, “it’d be an honor” with crying and prayer hands emojis. Benjamin “DrLupo” Lupo wrote he would “offer myself as tribute.” Fortnite star Ali “Myth” Kabbani proposed to “do wires together.” Esports got in there, too, with FaZe Clan inviting AOC to an Among Us tournament and the Overwatch League team Washington Justice offering to help “rep DC.”
In an unexpected turn for the digital sphere, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's unscripted appearance on Twitch left fans engrossing game streams with her impromptu commentary and advocacy approach—bridging a new generation to politics in real time.
