In August, Kamala Harris’ campaign launched a Twitch account in an effort to reach young people and some of the “hardest-to-reach voters” out there. It debuted with a stream of Harris’ acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, which is perhaps what one could expect from an account owned by a presidential campaign. On the evening of October 9, though, the channel streamed live gameplay for the first time — along with a live feed of Vice Presidential nominee Tim Waltz’s speech in Arizona.
As Wired notes, Twitch creator Preheat kicked things off by playing World of Warcraft on the channet at 6:30PM ET. Preheat, who told Wired that they volunteered for the task because of Harris’ platforms, also provided commentary about the game and encouraged viewers to vote. “GOP is the opposite of POG,” they said at one point during the stream. A spokesperson told the publication that the campaign is hoping to reach young male votes that make up most of Twitch’s userbase by streaming the rally alongside WoW gameplay.
Harris isn’t the first politician to use Twitch to reach voters. Joe Biden’s administration streamed his inauguration on the website, while Donald Trump’s camp had been streaming rallies and speeches on the platform since 2019. The former president’s account was suspended following the January 6 US Capitol riot, but it was reinstated in July this year. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is on Twitch, as well, and streamed herself a few times while playing Among Us.
