--- title: 400K People Watched Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Play 'Among Us' description: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar shook things up on Twitch with a livestream of "Among Us" that drew over 400,000 viewers. canonical: https://time.com/5902180/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-ilhan-omar-twitch-among-us-2020-election/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-10-21T18:30:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T09:20:32.888Z article:section: Politics og:title: 400K People Watched Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Play 'Among Us' og:description: The two Democratic congresswomen played the online murder mystery game to encourage people to vote og:url: https://time.com/5902180/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-ilhan-omar-twitch-among-us-2020-election/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a9ff7089fab8d30/698a136086f68ec6316ef51c/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-twitch.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez-Twitch og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 400K People Watched Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Play 'Among Us' twitter:description: The two Democratic congresswomen played the online murder mystery game to encourage people to vote twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a9ff7089fab8d30/698a136086f68ec6316ef51c/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-twitch.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Over 400,000 People Watched Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar Play _Among Us_ on Twitch > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=6bec00ef-5ae4-4f93-a6aa-5990863fd879&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 21, 2020 6:30 PM UTC  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigns in the Bronx borough of New York City on June 23, 2020. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigns in the Bronx borough of New York City on June 23, 2020. Stephanie Keith—Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 21, 2020 6:30 PM UTC Reps. [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2019/5567752/alexandria-ocasio-cortez/) and [Ilhan Omar](https://time.com/5628844/ilhan-omar-profile/) shook things up on [Twitch](https://time.com/5201151/drake/) on Tuesday with a [livestream](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/776770697) of the hugely popular [video game](https://time.com/5872912/best-video-games-2020-so-far/) _Among Us_ that drew over 400,000 viewers at its peak. In an effort to encourage people to vote in the [2020 election](https://time.com/5887437/conspiracy-theories-2020-election/), the two Democratic congresswomen played the online murder mystery game that has risen in popularity alongside Twitch stars like [pokimane](https://www.twitch.tv/pokimane), [HasanAbi](https://www.twitch.tv/hasanabi) and [Myth](https://www.twitch.tv/myth). > [](https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1318654866454175745) Ocasio-Cortez’s [livestream](https://www.twitch.tv/AOC), her first on Twitch and one of the most-watched streams in the service’s history, lasted for over three hours and garnered nearly 4.8 million total views. It was [reportedly](https://twitter.com/stevensonpj/status/1318727897688014850?s=21) the lead referrer to [IWillVote.com](https://iwillvote.com) for at least part of its duration. > [](https://twitter.com/stevensonpj/status/1318727897688014850) On Monday, Ocasio-Cortez put out an open call on Twitter for players to join her in Tuesday’s game. “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),” [she wrote](https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1318276809977434112), garnering replies from Omar, [HasanAbi](https://twitter.com/hasanthehun/status/1318277084146327552) and thousands of others. _Among Us_ is a covert multiplayer game, similar to [Mafia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia%5F%28party%5Fgame%29), that takes places on an alien spaceship and has skyrocketed in popularity amid the pandemic. Although it was originally released in 2018, it wasn’t until the past few months that the multiplayer social deduction game exploded in the charts—as of Oct. 1, it had been downloaded over 100 million times, according to its U.S.-based developer, InnerSloth. In addition to its simple premise, some of the game’s appeal stems from the fact that it supports cross-play across multiple platforms—including Android and iOS—making it easy for groups of friends to play with each other while staying distanced. Because of the popularity of the stream, [Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitch channel](https://www.twitch.tv/aoc) now has more than 584,000 followers. Both [President Donald Trump](https://www.twitch.tv/donaldtrump) and [Sen. Bernie Sanders](https://www.twitch.tv/bernie%5Fsanders) also have accounts on the platform, but only have 143,000 and 159,000 followers, respectively. Twitch has seen marked growth in recent years, and especially since the start of the pandemic. [According to TwitchTracker.com](https://twitchtracker.com/statistics), the streaming website boasts an average of over 2 million concurrent viewers in 2020, almost double what it recorded in 2019. > [](https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1318316623669985287) > [](https://twitter.com/mxmtoon/status/1318750452318691328) As Ocasio-Cortez mentioned in her tweets, the goal of the livestream was to spur potential voters to register and get to the polls. “I’m so excited by this upcoming election,” she said during the stream. “We can overwhelm the polls, and we can get things back on track.” > [](https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1318734076862517256) Following the game, Myth, a Twitch streamer with over 7 million followers, shared on Twitter that he was planning on voting for the first time in the 2020 election. “Remember to vote this election as well,” [he wrote](https://twitter.com/TSM%5FMyth/status/1318747492792426496). “This election is my first time voting and its super easy to do so do it.” > [](https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1318772252792508416) Ocasio-Cortez has often used alternative methods to reach out to potential voters. She has previously made appeals to millennial and Gen Z gamers with a foray into the world of 2020’s hit game _Animal Crossing: New Horizons_. She has also connected with younger voters by talking politics on Instagram live while doing things like assembling IKEA furniture and cooking dinner. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5902180/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-ilhan-omar-twitch-among-us-2020-election/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5902180/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-ilhan-omar-twitch-among-us-2020-election/"},"headline":"Over 400,000 People Watched Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar Play Among Us on Twitch","datePublished":"2020-10-21T18:30:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T09:20:32.888Z","description":"The two Democratic congresswomen played the online murder mystery game to encourage people to vote","url":"https://time.com/5902180/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-ilhan-omar-twitch-among-us-2020-election/","keywords":["2020 Election","Brief"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a9ff7089fab8d30/698a136086f68ec6316ef51c/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-twitch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a9ff7089fab8d30/698a136086f68ec6316ef51c/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-twitch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez-Twitch","caption":"Rep. 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