83-year-old Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders will join two of Twitch’s biggest stars to talk politics on Tuesday night as the neck-and-neck 2024 presidential race reaches its endgame. He’ll be stumping for Vice President Kamala Harris and talking about everything from the minimum wage to climate change with Imane “Pokimane” Anys and Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter on the Amazon-owned platform as Democrats try to reach younger voters online. I hope they make him play Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero.
“The extreme right has made a successful effort to insert itself into online spaces and non-traditional forms of communication,” Sanders told The Washington Post in a statement. “We cannot cede that space. If the Democratic Party wants to hold onto the support of young Americans, it must address the issue of concern to them.” The interview will stream live at 7:30 p.m. ET and be co-hosted by Anys and Hofstetter. They have over 20 million followers on Twitch between them and the grizzled democratic socialist with a reputation for not suffering foolishness will be taking their questions.
Sanders created his own Twitch channel back in 2019 when he was running for the Democratic nomination but has appeared on it rarely in the years since. Anys, meanwhile, has hosted political celebrities in the past, including a stream with New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2020 during which they played Among Us and reached over 430,000 concurrent viewers.
Tonight’s event was organized by the political action committee Progressive Victory, however, so it’s unclear how much of a scripted affair it will be or if the very offline senator, known for his decades-long commitment to economic goals like raising the minimum wage and eradicating childhood poverty, will be riffing on internet memes and streamer drama or be sticking to Harris-Walz campaign-approved messaging. Even Meet the Press hosts have rarely succeeded in shaking him from his standard anti-billionaire talking points.
One controversy currently enveloping Twitch is a debate over hate speech standards when it comes to discussions around Israel’s war in Gaza and the killing of thousands of Palestinian civilians, including the bombing of hospitals and refugee camps. While top streamer Zack “Asmongold” Hoyt recently apologized for a racist rant about Palestinians that saw his account temporarily banned, Twitch also went on a recent banning streak against some Arab streamers accused of anti-Semitism. Sanders has been one of the more vocal critics of Israel’s assault on Gaza within the Harris-Walz campaign.
