Brianna Wu

Brianna Wu (born July 6, 1977) is an American video game developer and computer programmer. She co-founded Giant Spacekat, an independent video game development studio, with Amanda Warner in Boston, Massachusetts. She is also a blogger and podcaster on matters relating to the video game industry. Wu began a second campaign for the primary in 2020; in April, she announced her departure from the race due to fears about the spread of COVID-19.

Early life and education Wu was born in West Virginia and raised in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, by adoptive parents. Her father was a retired US Navy doctor who opened his own clinic and her mother ran a series of small businesses. She enrolled at the University of Mississippi, studying journalism and political science and writing for The Daily Mississippian, but left in 2001 without a degree. Wu was co-host of the weekly Isometric podcast on Relay FM. The podcast ran from May 2014 to April 2016 and covered the video game industry. The same hosts, including Wu, started a new podcast called Disruption on Relay FM, covering technology and culture.

Revolution 60

Wu is credited as head of development for her company Giant Spacekat's game, Revolution 60. It features female protagonists, said to echo the founders of the game studio. The game, created with the Unreal Engine for a total budget of several hundred thousand dollars, was released for iOS devices in July 2014.

2018 congressional bid Wu decided immediately after the 2016 United States presidential election to run for a congressional seat in the greater Boston area, focusing in part on privacy rights and online harassment, but also on the wider Massachusetts economy. She challenged Rep. Stephen F. Lynch of the 8th district, in an announcement she made on Twitter. Wu stated, in a radio interview, that Lynch did not sufficiently represent the Democrats, citing his positions on reproductive health care and LGBTQ rights; Lynch is a centrist on the former and supportive of the latter. Wu also came out in favor of unions and collective bargaining. Wu feels that Massachusetts proportionally contributes more to the federal government than it receives in return and wants to use it as leverage in negotiations. She hopes that the Boston Bay area can rival San Francisco Bay as a technology hub. Wu moved to the 8th district in order to challenge the incumbent Lynch.

Wu also cited opposition to then-president Donald Trump, what she perceived as failures by Congress on technology issues, and what she perceived as the failure of the Democratic Party to emotionally connect with its voters as reasons for shifting from game development to politics.

On Twitter in February 2017, Wu received media attention after she posted warnings about the militarization of space, along with voicing her concerns over giving private space tourism companies sole access to the Moon. She wrote, "Rocks dropped from [the Moon] have power of 100s of nuclear bombs". She later deleted the tweets after receiving criticism.

In late October 2017, Wu used the streaming service Twitch to raise awareness for her congressional campaign. This appears to be the first instance of anyone using Twitch in this manner. "One of the reasons Millennials feel disenfranchised is politicians don't speak to them in ways that feel genuine," said Wu. "Twitch is one of the most important ways to engage younger people." When asked, neither Twitch, the DNC, nor the Pew Research Center were aware of anyone having had done so. Wu was playing Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus during the stream.

Wu lost to Lynch in the Democratic primary held on September 4, 2018, having received approximately 23% of the vote to Lynch's 71%.

She endorses the Green New Deal, legislative goals aimed at shifting the United States to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035.

In April 2020, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on her campaign, she suspended her congressional bid. Specifically, she feared one of her staffers or supporters could catch the virus. By 2026, The Forward was describing Wu as "a vocal critic of the progressive left." Following a stabbing at the Central Synagogue in Manhattan, Wu criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, replying "Do you think your non-stop demonization of Jews could have anything to do with it?" to Mamdani's post condemning the stabbing, referring to Mamdani's opposition to Israel. The perpetrator of the stabbing was a supporter of Israel who had shared content critical of Mamdani on social media.

Wu has stated the transgender movement's efforts to include transgender women in women's sports, which she considers an overreach, have unintentionally helped Republican anti-trans initiatives garner more political support. Wu claimed that “lunatic trans activists” were the “biggest obstacle to trans healthcare." She has also used transphobic slurs. In 2025, Wu apologized for suggesting that gender-affirming care to minors be restricted, writing "Trans sisters, I was wrong." Wu further wrote “I genuinely thought that as a trans woman, if ceded some points with the gender critical crowd we could have a healthier conversation and arrive at better public policy,” Wu wrote. “The problem is, they are getting crazier and more extreme... They are incapable of looking for a middle ground on bathrooms. They want maximalist policies on everything.” Wu subsequently responded to a trans journalist who rejected Wu's apology by referring to her as “male-brained.”

Personal life In 2008, she married Frank Wu, four-time winner of the Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist. In 2020, she and Cenk Uygur co-founded Rebellion PAC, a political action committee with a focus on running advertisements in opposition to Donald Trump and in support of progressive get-out-the-vote efforts. She is a trans woman.

Gamergate-related harassment

In October 2014, Wu posted multiple tweets about Gamergate advocates, ridiculing them for "fighting an apocalyptic future where women are 8 percent of programmers and not 3 percent." These threats have been widely attributed to Gamergate supporters.

Along with Anita Sarkeesian and Zoë Quinn, Wu was one of the targets of Gamergate harassment. In February 2015, she said, "by attacking me so viciously, they're helping give me the visibility to usher in the very game industry they're terrified about." Wu started a legal defense fund for women targeted by Gamergate. As of late 2014, the Wu family was also offering a cash reward for information leading to the prosecution of those who sent the death threats. By February 2015 she said she was spending a full day a week contacting law enforcement, and was only attending events in the US with a security detail. As of May 2019, she and her husband were still living under aliases.

In early 2017, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) closed its investigation of the matter. The FBI identified four men who sent threats and obtained confessions from two of them, one of whom stated that they had sent the threat as a "joke" but "understood that it was a federal crime to send a threatening communication to anyone and will never do it again". The U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts declined to prosecute, giving no specific reason. Reacting to the report, Wu stated the FBI did not care about the investigation and that she was "livid". In the wake of the 2019 Poway synagogue shooting, however, she said that the FBI needs dedicated agents who understand online culture (8chan in particular).

In August 2021, The Washington Post reported that "despite the attempts to discredit her, wreck her career and destroy her sense of safety, Wu has now become a vocal proponent of forgiveness for those who apologize and show they have grown" but that "insults and continued harassment" still outnumbered apologies "10-to-1".