Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Las Vegas: Wearing a camouflage Vikings hat, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz joined US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N Y, on Sunday to play Madden NFL 25 and talk about the election.
"Are we going to play some ball? Are we ready to do it?" Walz said to the audience watching via the streaming platform Twitch, cautioning that he was prepared to lose. Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, played as the Buffalo Bills, while Walz, a former high school football coach, went with the Vikings.
He and Ocasio-Cortez talked about the politics of Congress, where Walz served before he became governor and the Democrats' vice-presidential nominee. They compared the House to "public school," with the Senate being more like "private school."
The House, they agreed, is where policy for the nation is shaped, and Walz said he would have been proud to have voted for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a signature achievement of President Joe Biden's administration.
As the talk turned to the Senate and its procedures, Walz said knowingly to Ocasio-Cortez: "I don't know where you stand, but I'm going to guess you and I are probably the same on the filibuster."
"Oh, yeah, we have got to get rid of that thing," Ocasio-Cortez responded.
Ocasio-Cortez was an early proponent of removing the filibuster several years ago. Vice President Kamala Harris said in September that she would support ending the filibuster to codify Roe v. Wade.
After the stream ended, a Walz campaign official said Walz "shares the vice president's position."
In their Bills-Vikings Madden matchup Sunday, which Walz and Ocasio-Cortez played for just a scoreless first half, they discussed housing policy, and she asked him about voters who might be frustrated by the huge sums of money in politics or by the Biden administration's positions about the war in the Gaza Strip. Twitch showed that about 12,500 people were watching on Ocasio-Cortez's channel.
"For people who are most frustrated, they need to see stuff getting done," said Walz, who did not address the war in the Middle East directly.
They also discussed the importance of building coalitions. Harris' presidential campaign has sought to draw Republicans turned off by former President Donald Trump, in addition to motivating core Democratic voters. The Twitch stream was part of a broader effort by the Harris campaign to reach men -- and young men in particular.
"I do not think Gov. Walz would have hopped on here if he didn't value the power of the coalition we have here," said Ocasio-Cortez, who has become an emissary to skeptical young progressives for the Harris team.
The stream ended with Walz showing Ocasio-Cortez a favorite game he plays on the Sega Dreamcast called Crazy Taxi. The name aptly described Walz's driving style as he scrambled around as a taxi driver picking up fares while driving on the wrong side of the road.
"Is this how you drive in real life?" Ocasio-Cortez quipped.
Before they closed, Walz noted the unique nature of the moment.
"Do you think a vice president has gamed?" Walz asked. "I do not think Dan Quayle was gaming."
Then Walz departed the stream and headed to a local Mexican restaurant to watch some real-life football. The Las Vegas Raiders were playing.