Election News
Harris Looks For Boost From Oprah As Part Of Digital-First Media Strategy
Farmington Hills, Michigan – Vice President Kamala Harris sought a boost from persuadable and less-motivated voters during a livestream Thursday evening with former talk show host Oprah Winfrey, focussing on her plans to cut middle-class costs, restore a national right to abortion, and address gun violence.
The event, billed as “Unite for America,” and hosted by Winfrey from suburban Michigan, one of this election’s key battlegrounds, aimed to capture the same energy as Winfrey’s long-running talk show, which drove bestseller lists and allowed celebrities to share their softer side while also allowing ordinary people to share stories of struggle and inspiration.
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Harris Looks For Boost From Oprah As Part Of Digital-First Media Strategy
It included celebrities such as Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Lopez, and Meryl Streep, as well as everyday voters’ tales, to push Harris’ message over 90 minutes and contrast it with former President Donald Trump, the GOP contender. More than 300,000 people watched the Harris campaign livestream on YouTube alone, and the event was also broadcast on other major social media channels.
“We each have those moments in our lives when it’s time to step up,” Harris said when Winfrey enquired about her overnight metamorphosis from President Joe Biden’s running mate to the Democratic contender in her own right after he abruptly dropped out in July. “I felt a sense of responsibility, to be honest with you, and with that comes a sense of purpose.”
Winfrey informed Harris that it appeared as if a “veil dropped” and she had “stepped into your power.”
At one point, Harris informed viewers that she had a gun, which astonished Winfrey, stating, “If someone breaks into my house, they’re gonna get shot.” She said, “I probably shouldn’t have said that.”
Harris was allowed to discuss her plans to reduce housing costs and slash taxes for the middle class as she answered questions from people in Michigan and Virginia.
Oprah recognized Hadley Duvall in the audience, a 22-year-old woman who became an abortion rights activist after being raped by her stepfather as a youngster.
“You can’t wait until it’s too late to care about reproductive healthcare, because then it’s too late,” said Duvall, who appears in a new Harris campaign advertisement. “Thank you for hearing and seeing us when the Supreme Court won’t,” Duvall said, praising Harris.
Harris and Winfrey also hosted the mother and sister of a young Georgia mother who died while waiting 20 hours for a hospital to address complications from an abortion medication. Amber Thurman’s death, first reported by ProPublica on Monday, came just two weeks after Georgia adopted a stringent abortion ban in 2022, following the Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate nationwide abortion rights. Harris blamed her death on Trump.
“Amber was not a statistic; she was loved by a family, a strong family, and we would have done anything to get my baby, our baby, the help that she required,” Thurman’s mother, Shanette Williams, stated.
Harris applauded their courage in speaking up and warned of a “healthcare crisis” precipitated by the reversal of Roe v. Wade. “They have no right to be in your womb,” Winfrey stated.
Natalie Griffith, a student who was shot twice last month at Apalachee High School in Georgia, attended with her parents. Her mother revealed her dread after hearing about the shooting at her child’s school.
“No parent should go through this,” Marilda Griffith said through tears, recalling rushing out of work and heading to the school to see whether her daughter was okay. She called for federal action to reduce gun violence.
Harris, after mentioning that she owned a gun, stated that assault-style rifles were meant to kill as many people as possible on a battlefield and “don’t belong on the streets of civil society.”
The gathering comes as Harris works to continue sharing her biography and governance ideas with people throughout her brief presidential campaign, with early voting already underway in some states.
Harris has minimized her engagements with conventional media, instead focussing on internet engagement and casual — and often more controlled — moments that her campaign thinks would reach voters who increasingly acquire their news from digital sources.
“I want to bring my daughters to the White House to meet this Black woman president,” comedian Chris Rock declared.
Harris Looks For Boost From Oprah As Part Of Digital-First Media Strategy
The in-the-round stage resembles a college campus, with false brick pillars and a backdrop of trees and green turf beneath the chairs of the few hundred people in the audience. Dozens more supporters appeared on TV screens across the hall.
“I look around at these screens, Oprah, and I look at who’s in the room, and this is America,” she remarked.
The gathering is intended to bring together Harris supporters who formed spontaneously after a “Black Women for Harris” call drew tens of thousands of viewers and collected $1.5 million in the hours after Harris took over for Biden when his campaign ended. “White Dudes for Harris,” “Comedians for Harris,” and “Swifties for Harris” were among the suggestions.
Winfrey concluded with an appeal “for all decent people, for all caring people” to support Harris, stating of Trump, “We’re better than this.”
SOURCE | AP
