Minnesota Governor and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz streamed Crazy Taxi with U.S. House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Sunday. The two talked politics and policy ahead of the upcoming 2024 presidential elections in November, but more importantly, voters finally got to see Walz flex his previously touted video game skills.
Ocasio-Cortez hosted the stream on her official Twitch channel. The representative from New York streamed various games for roughly two hours. At the start, she played Stardew Valley by herself until Walz joined her around the 30-minute mark. Walz said he was “enjoying the heck out of [watching AOC play],” and chatted about farming. Soon after, the two kicked off their gaming session to play some Madden NFL 25 and answer questions from the chat.
Just before Walz logged off, he concluded his appearance with a little surprise: playing Crazy Taxi.
Why Crazy Taxi? Well, Walz has just been a long-time fan of the game. Originally released for arcade cabinets in 1999, Sega ported the chaotic racing game to the Sega Dreamcast in 2000. In August, the New York Times reported that Walz had bought a Sega Dreamcast, but then his wife made him get rid of it. Walz retold that same story on the livestream. “I had money and so I went out and I bought a Sega Dreamcast,” he said.
He just played one round, but he wasn’t all that bad. Sure he pulled up on the sidewalk a few times and nearly hit some pedestrians, but he definitely knew what he was doing. He picked up several clients as the green-haired driver, Axel, and concluded his round with $209.50 in earnings. You can watch the full video recording of the stream embedded below.
To some, it might seem strange to see an older candidate running for one of the top positions in federal office go online and play some video games. However, Democratic candidates have increasingly been using Twitch as a way to reach potential voters. In 2020, Ocasio-Cortez streamed Among Us to more than 435,000 viewers and last week, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-V.T.) livestreamed with popular Twitch creators like Imane “Pokimane” Anys.
According to Walz, the stream on Sunday reflected a more inclusive vision of politics.
“Go vote. There’s a new way forward here. Our politics can be joyful, fun, engaging, everybody can participate. There’s plenty to go around,” he said.
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