Tim Walz courts young voters with Twitch video game stream

Vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz took part in gaming streaming sessions on Twitch as part of Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris’s election campaign, the monthly American print magazine WIRED first reported in early October.

Attempting to appeal to the younger US audience, Tim Walz, who was accompanied by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in one of the streams, has begun streaming gaming sessions on the online streaming service Twitch. Alongside the gameplay, Walz reportedly addressed political agendas and engaged with viewers to promote the Democratic Party.

The Harris campaign launched its Twitch account in August, initially streaming the vice president’s acceptance speech. This strategy aims to reach young, disaffected voters. “Our job as the campaign is to break through a historically personalized media landscape,” WIRED cited spokesperson Seth Schuster.

In early October, WIRED reported that Walz was featured at an online rally from Azeroth: the digital realm of Blizzard’s game World of Warcraft. The event was planned to combine Walz's speech with gameplay commentary from Twitch creator Preheat, who was also reportedly tasked with interacting with viewers and promoting voter planning.

However, according to a report on the video game journalism platform TheGamer, Walz was not playing the game, and the experience “was a bit underwhelming, as the WoW stream (or possibly the Walz rally) just ended up as a distraction. It was not a particularly cohesive union of the two ideas.”

In a separate stream on Twitch late October, Walz and AOC were playing EA Sports’s Madden aiming to engage young male voters, the Guardian reported last Sunday. During the livestream, they emphasized the importance of regaining Democratic control of the House, maintaining the Senate majority, and ensuring Kamala Harris’s victory against former President Donald Trump on November 5.

Connecting with young voters on Twitch

“I thought it would conquer the world,” the Washington Post cited Walz reminiscing his nostalgic belief in the Sega Dreamcast gaming console, which he use to own and reportedly had recently reaquired, during the Twitch stream.

While AOC confessed she had “spent part of my last two days learning how to play Madden through tutorials,” as she was unfamiliar with the sport compared to Walz who used to be a football coach at Mankato West High School.

“We don’t all share the same politics, we don’t all share the same views, but the need to defeat Trump this year has been my number one priority,” AOC stated, characterizing Trump as an aspiring authoritarian, the Guardian noted, and criticizing the media for blocking support for Harris. She described this as “a plutocracy mask-off moment,” the Guardian cited AOC.

Walz, who logged on just before a campaign rally in Nevada, shared his gaming history, dating back to Pac-Man, which was first published in 1980 in Japan. In the gaming session stream, Walz played as the Minnesota Vikings, while AOC selected the Buffalo Bills, with approximately 12,000 viewers tuning in, according to the Guardian.

Moreover, according to the Washington Post, Walz also emphasized the importance of engaging potential voters on platforms like Twitch, stating, “I see gamers, many times, are on the front end of this. It’s a collaborative community and they’re competitive.” He added, “I hear it all the time, ‘I’m just not into politics.’ Too bad! Politics is into you.”

The conversation between Walz and AOC during the online gaming session covered various topics, including Social Security. Walz shared, “Social Security benefits protected my family. My dad died at 19. We pay into that. For families like ours, it was the difference between potentially losing your home.”

They also addressed the need for the Democratic coalition to connect with progressives disillusioned by the party, the Washington Post noted in its report. Walz stated, “For the folks who are frustrated, they need to see things getting done… then rectifying some of those wrongs,” emphasizing the party's need to improve messaging about its successes.

The stream concluded with a surprise game of Crazy Taxi, a 1999 Sega arcade classic that was also released on the Dreamcast. Walz recalled his connection to the game, the Washington Post cited him stating, “I ended up getting hooked on it and bringing it to my congressional office in 2007. My wife then persuaded me to sell it.”

As he quickly adapted to the game’s controls, he urged viewers, “Go get this game, people,” humorously anticipating Republican critiques about his gaming history, the Washington Post noted.

“That was crazy,” AOC concluded her gaming stream session with Walz.