Apologies to Mr. Smith but screw going to Washington ... AOC's going to Twitch to get s**t done for America, and she's now recruiting her colleagues to do the same.

We got Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez out on Capitol Hill and she told us she's actually in the process of signing up her -- shall we say more senior -- colleagues to the game streaming platform so they too can capitalize on the massive audience it provides.

AOC says among some of the colleagues she's signing up is her Netflix doc costar, Representative-elect Cori Bush. There are others too ... and it seems she's making quite the effort to do so ... on the heels of raising $200k during her Twitch debut last month that attracted 435,000 viewers at its peak while playing the popular game "Among Us."

Big numbers for sure, but even more impressive is the money she raised on the platform for 6 orgs in her community that'll use the loot for eviction defenses, food pantries and more ... as the country struggles to deal with the pandemic and the collateral damage it's caused.

As for why she's so adamant about becoming a Twitch vet ... well, she pointed to the Capitol building and essentially said "these folks" are lagging behind when it comes to passing a new COVID relief bill to help struggling Americans.

Let's hope more of her colleagues are game.

This story originally appeared on: TMZ - Author:TMZ Staff