Kamala Harris' campaign allowed viewers to watch World of Warcraft and a Tim Walz rally at the same time

Kamala HarrisThe presidential campaign is looking for young voters, and to reach them where they are, the Democratic nominee tried a novel format on her official Twitch Account. There, the Harris team recently streamed a rally led by its vice presidential candidate Tim Waltz. At the same time, a split screen showed the streamer Preheat play the classic MMORPG World of Warcraft.

Harris quietly opened her Twitch account before, but not before, her speech at the Democratic National Convention in August Wow The channel was not used to broadcast video games. Instead, it served as an alternative distribution hub for Harris and Walz's campaign stops.

But the Harris team changed its strategy when Walz went to Tucson, Arizona, for a rally. To make the Twitch broadcast of the event a little more exciting, Harris hired Preheat, a Wow Gamer and presenter who sympathizes with the Democratic candidate and her political platform. On Twitch, Preheat announced to about 5,000 viewers his intention to vote for Harris in the November election.

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As far as we know, this is the first time a political rally and a gameplay session have been combined in a split-screen format – at least in the US. However, the strategy of satisfying short attention spans by adding video games to long-form content has a long history. In fact, MrBeast was already editing his videos this way when he first started on YouTube.

Preheat's take on the format delivered a mix of political commentary and in-game banter. At one point during the stream, he criticized the Republican-backed plan called Project 2025. He was so focused on the rally that he lost track of his game and quipped, “Wait, am I dying?”

If the Harris campaign wants to use streaming to appeal to young voters, it could opt for a newer game Wow. The Blizzard MMO was the hottest game back when John Kerry was running for president, but while Harris' approach is a bit dated, it's worth a try during the campaign season known as the “influencer election.” The Kamala Twitch account now has more than 23,000 followers and it's time to increase that number even further by November.