Vice President Kamala Harris sought to gain a boost from both confident and less motivated voters as she appeared on a livestream Thursday night with former talk show host Oprah Winfrey to focus on her plans to cut costs for the middle class, restore national abortion rights and combat gun violence.
The event, titled “Unite for America” and hosted by Winfrey from suburban Michigan, a key battleground in this election, sought to harness the same energy of Oprah Winfrey’s long-running talk show, which fueled best-seller lists and allowed celebrities to share their softer sides and ordinary people to share stories of struggle and inspiration.
Harris’ campaign relied on celebrities like Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Lopez and Meryl Streep, as well as testimonials from ordinary voters, to promote Harris’ message over the course of 90 minutes and create a contrast with former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. More than 300,000 people watched Harris’ campaign live on YouTube alone, and the event was also streamed on other major social media platforms.
“We all have these moments in our lives where it’s time to take charge,” Harris said when Winfrey asked her about her overnight transformation from President Joe Biden’s running mate to the Democratic nominee in her own right after he abruptly withdrew in July. “I felt a sense of responsibility, to be honest with you, and it gave me a sense of accountability.”
Winfrey told Harris it was as if a “veil had fallen” and she “had stepped into your power.”
At one point, Harris reminded viewers that she owns a gun — which surprised Winfrey — saying, “If someone breaks into my house, they’re going to get shot.” She added, “I probably shouldn’t have said that.”
Harris had the opportunity to discuss her plans to lower housing costs and cut taxes for the middle class as she answered questions from voters 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 child.
“We can’t wait until it’s too late to address reproductive health care, because then it’s too late,” said Duvall, who appears in a new Harris campaign ad. “Thank you for listening to us and seeing us when the Supreme Court doesn’t,” Duvall added, praising Harris.
Harris and Winfrey also welcomed the mother and sister of a young Georgia mother who died after waiting 20 hours for a hospital to treat complications from an abortion pill. Thurman’s death, first reported Monday by ProPublica, came just two weeks after Georgia’s strict abortion ban went into effect in 2022, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down abortion rights nationwide. Harris blamed Trump for her death.
“Amber was not a statistic, she was loved by a family, a strong family and we would have done anything in our power to get my baby, our baby, the help she needed,” said Thurman’s mother, Shanette Williams.
Harris praised their courage in speaking out and decried a “health care crisis” caused by the overturning of Roe v. Wade. “They have no right to be in your belly,” Winfrey added.
Kamala Harris said Donald Trump and JD Vance’s repeated comments about Haitian immigrants are “lies based on clichés.”
Natalie Griffith, a student who was shot twice last month at Apalachee High School in Georgia, has joined her parents. Her mother described the fear she felt after learning of the shooting at her child’s school.
“No parent should have to go through this,” Marilda Griffith said through tears, describing the rush she made to leave work and then the rush to school to check on her daughter. She called for federal action to reduce gun violence.
Harris, after noting that she herself owns a gun, said assault rifles are designed to kill as many people as possible on a battlefield and “have no place on the streets of a civil society.”
The move comes as Harris strives to continue sharing her biography and governing philosophy with voters during her abbreviated presidential campaign, with early voting already underway in some states.
Harris has limited her interactions with traditional media, instead favoring digital engagement and informal — and often more controlled — moments that her campaign believes will reach voters who increasingly get their news from digital sources.
“I want to take my daughters to the White House to meet this black president,” comedian Chris Rock said.
The circular stage has the look of a college campus, with faux brick pillars and a backdrop of trees and green grass beneath the chairs of the hundreds of guests in the audience. Dozens of other fans were present on video screens around the room.
“I look at these screens, Oprah, and I look at who’s in the room, and it’s America,” Harris said.
The event is intended to be a gathering of Harris support groups that formed organically after a “Black Women for Harris” call drew tens of thousands of viewers — and raised $1.5 million — in the hours after Harris took office after her campaign ended. Those groups included “White Dudes for Harris,” “Comedians for Harris” and “Swifties for Harris.”
The event included a direct call to action for viewers to volunteer for Harris’ campaign and to make calls and knock on doors for the Democrat.
Winfrey ended her speech by calling on “all decent people, all caring people” to support Harris, saying of Trump: “We are better than that.”
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Miller reported from Washington.
