Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) entrance into the Twitch online gaming community became one of the most-watched streams in the platform’s history as more than half a million people tuned in Tuesday evening.
A multihour stream of the New York congresswoman playing “Among Us” alongside popular streamers Hasanabi and Pokimane and others including a colleague and fellow “squad” member, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), drew more than 430,000 viewers on her channel. Other streamers broadcasting while taking part in the event drew tens of thousands of concurrent viewers as well, likely bringing the total past half a million viewers.
The stream is now the third highest watched in Twitch history, according to Gamespot.com, trailing a record set by streamer Ninja in 2018 during a Fortnite session with rapper Travis Scott and hip-hop artist Drake. A Fortnite in-game event streamed earlier this year from Spanish streamer TheGrefg was the second most watched event.
Omar captioned a picture of herself playing on a staffer’s computer Tuesday evening shortly after joining the event, during which she won at least one match while at times playing alongside her oldest daughter, Isra Hirsi.
Other members of Congress appeared to be enjoying the stream from a distance.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), another “squad” member, tweeted a picture of her two sons watching Ocasio-Cortez play, and added: “They think this is the coolest thing ever & are trying to convince me to get with the program.”
At one point in the stream, Ocasio-Cortez also announced that Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) had texted her, telling her that he was greatly enjoying the stream.
“I had no idea how Among Us worked before this Twitch stream, but this is great, and I’ve got my son speed-teaching me,” Amash tweeted minutes later.
Plans for the hugely popular stream evolved over the course of a single day following Ocasio-Cortez’s query to her followers a day earlier asking if anyone would be interested in a stream featuring a get-out-the-vote message.
Numerous streamers including Pokimane and Hasanabi, also known as former Young Turks contributor Hasan Piker, responded to the congresswoman’s Monday tweet, apparently prompting plans for the star-studded stream.