Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s ‘Among Us’ Twitch Stream Promotes Voting to 435,000 Viewers
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitch, the popular video game livestreaming platform, to get out the vote — to 435,000 simultaneous viewers.
On Monday, Ocasio-Cortez announced on Twitter that she was looking to play “Among Us,” the massively popular murder mystery video game, on Twitch to encourage people to vote. On Tuesday night, she launched her livestream with Rep. Ilhan Omar and several popular Twitch streamers, including Pokimane, HasanAbi, Myth and JackSepticEye.
According to the Associated Press, Ocasio-Cortez’s stream had 435,000 concurrent viewers at its highest point. The congresswoman’s Twitch account now has more than 575,000 followers, and her three-hour “Among Us” stream received more than 4.5 million views.
The massive viewership puts Ocasio-Cortez’s livestream among the top 20 most-watched streams on Twitch of all time, and certainly one of the biggest debuts. Twitch superstar streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins set the all-time record for concurrent viewers in 2018 when he played the popular battle royale video game “Fortnite” with rapper Drake. Around 625,000 viewers tuned into his livestream, catapulting the Twitch platform into the mainstream audience.
Ocasio-Cortez directed viewers to IWillVote.com and encouraged first-time voters to sign up and vote for Joe Biden in the upcoming election and other Democratic candidates. “That’s really what tonight’s all about, and of course we are here to vote blue,” she said during the livestream.
She also discussed healthcare with the livestreamers, contrasting the different policies for citizens in the U.S. and U.K.
AOC talks healthcare with @Hbomberguy, who is from the UK, where healthcare is free. pic.twitter.com/3wMUZXpuF7
— Brennan Murphy (@brenonade) October 21, 2020
“Among Us” has taken the Twitch livestream community by storm. In it, players take on the roles of differently colored astronauts repairing their space shuttle. However, some players get the role of imposters, who sabotage the group’s efforts and kill other players’ innocent characters. Without knowing everyone’s intentions, the players must decide on who to vote out of the space shuttle and attempt to complete their goals.
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