Updated August 21, 2024 at 23:41 PM ET
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Oprah Winfrey, the media mogul and influential talk show host, took to the stage on Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention in front of a thunderous crowd to deliver a rousing endorsement for Vice President Harris.
In the past, Winfrey has selectively wielded her far-reaching influence to support political candidates. But, in returning to Chicago, where Winfrey’s career as a television host took off, Winfrey made her first appearance speaking at a political convention in order to throw her weight behind Harris.
“We’re now so fired up, we can’t wait to leave here and do something, and what we’re gonna do is elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States,” said Winfrey, who was a surprise addition to the night’s events.
“Decency and respect are on the ballot in 2024,” Winfrey said. “And just plain common sense tells you that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz can give us decency and respect. They're the ones to give it to us.”
Speaking on the message of freedom, Winfrey acknowledged how divisions and inequities in the U.S. affected her own life.
“I’ve lived in Mississippi, in Tennessee, in Wisconsin, Maryland, Indiana, Florida, Hawaii, Colorado, California and sweet home Chicago,” Winfrey said. “I have actually traveled this country from the redwood forests — love those redwoods! — to the gulf stream waters. I’ve seen racism and sexism and income inequality and division. I’ve not only seen it, at times I’ve been on the receiving end of it.”
But Winfrey painted the country as a nation of united and compassionate individuals.
“More often than not, what I’ve witnessed and experienced are human beings, both conservative and liberal, who may not agree with each other, but who still help you in a heartbeat if you are in trouble,” she said. “These are the people who make me proud to say that I am an American.”
She heralded those who advocated for Americans’ freedoms, from reproductive rights activists, and Black Americans who fought against segregation — such as the late Congressman John Lewis and the late Tessie Prevost Williams, who were both Civil Rights era icons.
Winfrey highlighted Prevost Williams’ activism as one of the “New Orleans Four,” which pushed for the integration of public schools in New Orleans, La., in 1960. That activism, Winfrey said, helped pave the way for Harris to be bused across Berkeley, Calif., in order to attend an integrated public school in the 1970s.
“And it seems to me that at school and at home, somebody did a beautiful job of showing this young girl how to challenge the people at the top and empower the people at the bottom. They showed her how to look at the world and see not just what is, but what can be. They instilled in her a passion for justice and freedom and the glorious fighting spirit necessary to pursue that passion,” Winfrey said. “And very soon, we're going to be teaching our daughters and sons about how this child of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, two idealistic, energetic immigrants — how this child grew up to become the 47th president of the United States.”
Winfrey’s presence at the DNC is seen as a major win for the Harris campaign, which is keen to leverage Winfrey’s outsized influence over shaping public opinion — a phenomenon colloquially coined as the “Oprah effect.”
Before 2007, Winfrey had never publicly endorsed a political candidate. But when she backed former President Barack Obama over former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, the endorsement had an outsized impact on the election: Researchers at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and the University of Maryland found that Winfrey’s endorsement ultimately was worth about 1 million votes for Obama.
Winfrey went on to support Clinton in 2016 and President Biden in 2020. Notably, she also endorsed Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman in the 2022 midterms over Mehmet Oz — who started The Dr. Oz Show with the help of Winfrey and her production company, Harpo Productions.
Winfrey has also advocated for protecting voting access for Black women, and founded OWN Your Vote under the Oprah Winfrey Network in 2020 to fight voter suppression across the country.
In endorsing President Biden and Harris in 2020, Winfrey emphasized the gravity of Harris being on the Democratic presidential ticket as a woman of color.
“I was thinking the other day, 'I wish Maya [Angelou] were alive to see it,'" Winfrey told People Magazine in 2020. "But maybe she's working it on the other side. Because there's no way to measure what the election of Kamala Harris means for all women, all colors, everywhere."
Watch Winfrey's full remarks:
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