Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the Latest Among Us Imposter

Whether you’ve joined the lobby as red, pink or blue, chances are you’ve been accused of being “sus” on Among Us. The online multiplayer social deduction game has been out since 2018 and has accumulated 3.3 million followers on Twitch. This recent spike in popularity is partially thanks to prominent Among Us streamers like Trainwreckstv, Pokimane and, most recently, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Oct.19 asking if anyone wanted to play Among Us with her to “get out the vote.” The next day, she was streaming on Twitch with many well-known gamers, talking politics and helping folks make plans to get to the polls.

The stream peaked at 439,000 views, making it the third-highest-viewed single stream in Twitch history. Viewership ranged from 300,000 to 400,000 for most of the stream. By the time Ocasio-Cortez logged off, she had been live for three and a half hours.

If you missed the stream, you can view the highlights here!

Though Ocasio-Cortez has publicly declared her love for video games on numerous occasions, she had not launched a Twitch channel before her Among Us stream. In a single day, she gained 289,000 followers, and by the end of her stream had a total of 422,000. 

While she faced some criticism, Ocasio-Cortez’s stream received mostly positive reactions, ranging from regular Twitch viewers to scholars like Rothermere American Institute fellow Mitchell Robertson. "The impressiveness of AOC is not simply that she is a forceful and articulate proponent of the Democratic message, it is that she is able to speak credibly directly to millennials using platforms like Twitch," said Robertson. 

Others noted that taking to gaming platforms is a clever way to raise voter awareness pre-election, especially amongst the notoriously hard-to-reach Gen Z population.

Did you watch AOC’s Twitch stream? Do you think this will encourage younger audiences to get out and vote? Let us know what you think on one of our social channels @TXADPR!