Oprah Winfrey in Ga.: I’m here to boost Stacey Abrams, not to run
Oprah Winfrey was met with a boisterous reception as she rallied support for Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams on Thursday. But Winfrey had a message for those speculating that she may pursue a political bid of her own: She’s not running.
“I don’t want to run, OK? I’m not trying to test any waters,” Winfrey told the crowd in Marietta, Ga., prompting applause and cheers of encouragement. “I’m here today because of Stacey Abrams.”
She praised Abrams as a leader who “will serve the underserved of the state of Georgia.”
If elected, Abrams would become the first black woman governor in U.S. history. She faces Republican Brian Kemp, who was appearing at events with Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday.
In her remarks Thursday, Winfrey told the crowd that she is a registered independent, “because I don’t want any party, and I don’t want any kind of partisan influence telling me what decisions I get to make for myself.”
“I’ve earned the right to do what I want to do when I want to do it. I’ve earned the right to think for myself. And to vote for myself,” Winfrey said.
She encouraged black and female voters, telling them that “for anybody here who has ancestors who didn’t have right to vote ... you are dishonoring your family. You are disrespecting and disregarding their legacy, their suffering and their dreams when you don’t vote.”
And in a nod to voter suppression allegations, Winfrey told the crowd that “every single one of us has something that, if done in numbers too big to tamper with, cannot be suppressed and cannot be denied.”
“All of us may have been created equal, but if you’re woke ... you’ve got sense enough to know that everybody is not treated equally.” Oprah Winfrey rallies support for Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams in Marietta, Ga., on Thursday.