Is That AOC Among Us ? Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Playing the Popular Game to Encourage Voting

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Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has the joined live-streaming gaming platform Twitch, encouraging her Twitter followers to play alongside her in an effort to get out the vote.

The New York representative took to Twitter on Monday — with the kind of spontaneity that, with hindsight, looks a little like it was rehearsed — to float the idea of playing the multiplayer murder-mystery game Among Us, which has recently grown into a massive hit on people’s phones.

"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)," Ocasio-Cortez, 31, wrote.

While it was released two years ago, Among Us has seen a recent spike in popularity, with the game's developer saying it reached 1.5 million consecutive online players in September.

In short order, a number of high-profile gamers and influencers responded to Ocasio-Cortez's tweet: Twitch streamer Pokimane wrote that it would be "an honor" to play the game with the politician and YouTuber James Charles simply responding, "YES."

Even Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar — a fellow member of the "Squad" of progressives in the House — threw her hat into the ring, offering a waving hand emoji in response to the tweet, to which Ocasio-Cortez responded "Ohhh it’s ON sis!"

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On Monday, Ocasio-Cortez wrote that she had spent the evening "setting up accounts, mods, streaming & run throughs" and hoped to go live on Tuesday night. She also tweeted a link to her Twitch channel.

On Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez announced that she and others would be streaming their Among Us session and "help[ing] folks make a voting plan."

As The Verge notes, a handful of politicians have begun using the platform in an effort to connect with younger voters. Former presidential hopefuls Andrew Yang and Sen. Bernie Sanders, for instance, both have Twitch channels.

Twitch's popularity has grown in recent months, with viewership up as more people stay home amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Ocasio-Cortez intends to use the platform to urge players to vote in this year's presidential election. She offered a symbolic nomination of Sanders at the Democratic National Convention, but has said, "It's incredibly important that we support the Democratic nominee," in reference to Joe Biden.

Elected in 2018 as the youngest woman in Congress, Ocasio-Cortez has since emerged as one of the deftest politicians when it comes to social media, amassing millions of followers across Instagram, Twitter and more where she advocates for the progressive policies that have made her a lightning rod in more conservative circles.