Tim Walz rally streamed on Twitch with zoomer-friendly WoW gameplay

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have adopted a new strategy, streaming their campaign’s latest rally on Twitch with zoomer-friendly World of Warcraft gameplay taking up a majority of the broadcast.

Presidential candidates streaming on Twitch is nothing new, per se, but the Harris campaign has taken things a step further ahead of the 2024 election. Vice Presidential candidate and known geek, Walz, was in Arizona on October 9 for his latest rally.

Rather than merely broadcasting the rally on the official campaign Twitch account, however, they opted for something different. The rally itself only takes up a quarter of screen space, while random World of Warcraft gameplay soaks up the rest of the stream.

Twitch streamer ‘Preheat’ was enlisted for the gig, reportedly volunteering his gameplay for the rally. It has nothing directly to do with the in-person rally, but it’s all part of the campaign’s plan to appeal to a younger, male demographic.

“To be clear, Tim Walz isn’t playing WoW with me,” Preheat had to clarify before the broadcast got underway. There’s no real involvement from Walz on the WoW side. Instead, it’s purely just Walz giving his speech to the Arizonan crowd while MMO gameplay airs on the side.

Looking to strike a chord with the zoomer audience on Twitch, don’t be too surprised if their next rally features Subway Sufer and Family Guy next to the WoW gameplay.

Obviously, Preheat said it would “be really cool” to get Walz playing WoW with him in the lead up to Election Day on November 5, but there’s no guarantee that’ll happen.

A self-professed dork, Walz has a long history in the gaming space. Back in his stretch as Minnesota state Governor, he even gave his endorsement for a high school esports team as they competed in Valorant.

“You are at the helm of transforming a hobby into a potentially life-changing career in a new and innovative realm of sports,” Walz said at the time.

There’s no telling if this zoomer-friendly rally idea came from Walz directly or members on the campaign team, but with over 4,400 live viewers on the day, with Preheat drawing over a thousand on his own channel, it’s clearly turned heads as intended.