Oprah Winfrey, the coastal elite billionaire and queen of all media, went down to Georgia to stump for Democrats. In a Thursday speech delivered before a town hall, Winfrey praised gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and advised people to honor their ancestors by exercising their right to vote.
Oprah recalled the story of Otis Moss Sr., who walked 18 miles to vote but was told he arrived too late. He died before the next election.
“For anybody here who has an ancestor who didn’t have the right to vote and you are choosing not to vote wherever you are in this state, in this country, you are dishonoring your family,” Winfrey said on Thursday, according to HuffPo.
“You are disrespecting and disregarding their legacy, their suffering and their dreams when you don’t vote,” she added.
Winfrey will be joining Abrams on the campaign trail. Abrams faces off against Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R).
“I am an independent woman,” Winfrey said. “Nobody paid for me to come here. Nobody even asked for me to come here. I paid for myself and I approve this message.”
“We are not powerless,” she added. “Every single one of us has the same power at the polls.”
Winfrey has long been rumored to be a 2020 presidential candidate, but she quelled those rumors in her Thursday speech.
“I’m not here because I’m making some grandstand, because I’m thinking of running myself,” she said. “I don’t want to run, OK? I’m not trying to test any waters. Don’t want to go in those waters. I’m here today because of Stacey Abrams.”
As noted by LifeNews, Abrams is an avid abortion supporter and has pledged to oppose all pro-life measures in the state.
“She pledges as governor, to continue her 11-year career from the state legislature of opposing even the most common sense limits on abortion and has called herself a ‘staunch defender‘ of killing babies in abortions,” reports the outlet.
Though Oprah is playing it off like a grassroots campaign, her presence ejects much elitism into the political debate, being that she lives full time in a left-wing coastal haven. Vice President Mike Pence had the perfect response by channeling Will Ferrell in “Anchorman.”
“This ain’t Hollywood!” said Pence Thursday at a rally in Savannah. “I’m kind of a big deal, too.”
Pence also noted that Abrams’ campaign is “bankrolled by Hollywood liberals.”
While critics of Pence have tried to catch him in a “gotcha!” moment by pointing out that Georgia has a booming film industry, that doesn’t negate the fact that Hollywood is the hub of entertainment and a symbol of coastal elitism.
In terms of Oprah’s rumored presidential run, she has given several indications before she probably won’t challenge President Trump come 2020. “In that political structure ― all the non-truths, the bullshit, the crap, the nastiness, the backhanded backroom stuff that goes on ― I feel like I could not exist,” Winfrey told British Vogue. “I would not be able to do it. It’s not a clean business. It would kill me.”