Summary
US Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) joined aTwitchlivestream with Pokimane, Sykkuno, Valkyrae, and AustinShow to endorse Kamala Harris’ run for President. The current vice president of the United States has her ownTwitchchannel that she uses to broadcast rallies and speeches as she travels around the country campaigning. However, Harris has yet to sit down and chat or play games with content creators as political candidates have occasionally done in the past.
The popular senator from Vermont, for his part, is no stranger to the streaming platform either. As far back as 2019,Bernie Sanders livestreamed on Twitchwhile campaigning for president and to promote his Medicare for All policy, for which he has long advocated. Like Kamala Harris, the senator has used his Twitch channel, Bernie_Sanders, to stream speeches and rallies, though he hasn’t gone live in four years.
While many people have been hoping that Kamala Harris will pull anAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez and play some video games on Twitch, they’ve instead been given a livestream with Bernie Sanders. On October 22, sitting down to chat with Sykkuno, Pokimane, Valkyrae, and AustinShow, the senator started off his Twitch visit by encountering a Vtuber for the first time.
Sykkuno, who appeared as a cat, asked Sanders, “Do you know what a Vtuber is?” “Nope,” the senator replied, and Pokimane briefly explained. Sanders appeared disinterested, though he laughed a little and said, “Looking good. Looking very good.” Sykkuno then muted his mic to exclaim to his viewers, “Chat, he thinks we’re psycho. He 100% thinks we’re a psycho.”
Bernie Sanders Wasn’t on Twitch for the Memes
From there, the senator swerved to more serious matters, discussing the reasons he is backing Kamala Harris in her campaign for President. Sanders covered raising the hourly minimum wage to at least $15 and making healthcare accessible to more people. He also talked about rent control, affordable higher education, women’s rights, andclimate change. Other notable faces made an appearance during the Twitch livestream, including actor Mark Hamill and billionaire Mark Cuban, who have both been vocal in their support of the democratic party or Kamala Harris, as well as YouTube personality Hank Green.
The senator has made other, albeit accidental, appearances on social media that have demonstrated his popularity among younger voters. In February 2023,Bernie Sanders inadvertently photo bombed a TikTok dance, and the video made the rounds online as people called the dancers “the luckiest people in the world.” And while the clip of Sanders learning about Vtubers will likely be most remembered about the October 22 Twitch stream, hopefully viewers also took away bits of the political message the senator was there to convey.
