From time immemorial, politicians have struggled with the problem of how to attract young voters. How does one get through to the increasingly jaded, too-cool-to-care, 18-24 demographic as a boring career politician? According to presidential hopeful Kamala Harris, the answer lies in Twitch.
That’s right: Vice president Kamala Harris is on Twitch, streaming from—you guessed it—the kamalaharris channel. “Streaming” is sort of applied loosely here, however, as this up-and-coming streamer hasn’t actually hopped on for her big debut yet. Harris’ channel looks like any of her other social accounts. Since launching just this morning, it’s accrued nearly 3,000 followers, but crucially has yet to stream. Will she be trying out Among Us like fellow prominent Democrat AOC? Maybe she’ll win over the hardcore gamer demographic by doing a Level 1 run in Elden Ring?
Unfortunately, the truth may be a little less exciting. A Harris spokesperson told Wired that the aim of the Twitch channel will be “bringing her live to voters wherever they may be, Twitch included,” specifically in reference to her upcoming address at the Democratic National Convention. In other words, it seems that Harris’ Twitch channel will essentially just be another means to broadcast her various speeches and appearances, and we are not, in fact, going to have our first gamer president—although her VP pick might fit the bill.
The move isn’t completely unprecedented, granted. Besides AOC, Joe Biden and Donald Trump also made forays into Twitch as part of their 2020 campaigns, but neither of them engaged with it in any meaningful way. It seems this is a trend Harris’ team will continue if that statement proves to be true, but maybe—just maybe—we’ll get lucky enough to have a personal appearance from Harris herself. My vote is contingent on her League of Legends main.
