Vice President Kamala Harris was looking to make inroads among less trusting and less motivated voters when she appeared on a livestream this week with former talk show host Oprah Winfrey to discuss her plans to cut spending on the middle class, restore abortion rights nationwide and combat gun violence.
The Thursday night event, billed as “Unite for America” and hosted by Winfrey from suburban Michigan, one of the key battlegrounds in this election, sought to have the same energy as Winfrey’s long-running talk show, which has spawned a list of bestsellers and allowed celebrities to use it to share their softer sides and everyday people to share stories of struggle and inspiration.
She drew on celebrities like Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Lopez and Meryl Streep, but also on the stories of everyday voters to promote Harris’s message for 90 minutes and compare it to that of former President Trump, the Republican nominee. More than 300,000 people watched Harris’ campaign livestream on YouTube alone, and the event was also streamed on other social media platforms.
“We all have moments in our lives when it’s time to step up,” Harris said when asked about her overnight transformation from running mate to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden after she suddenly left in July. “To be honest, I felt a sense of responsibility, and with that comes a sense of purpose.”
Winfrey told Harris it was like “the curtain fell” and she “took her power.”
At one point, Harris reminded the audience that she owns a gun, which surprised Winfrey: “If anyone comes into my house, they’re going to shoot.” She added: “I probably shouldn’t have said that.”
Harris had the opportunity to talk about her plans to lower housing costs and taxes for the middle class while answering questions from voters in Michigan and Virginia.
Winfrey recognized Hadley Duvall in the audience, a 22-year-old woman who became an abortion rights advocate after her stepfather raped her as a child.
“You can’t wait until it’s too late to take care of reproductive health because it will be 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 won’t,” Duvall said in praising Harris.
Harris and Winfrey also paid tribute to the mother and sister of a young Georgia mother who died after waiting 20 hours in a hospital for treatment for complications from an abortion pill. Amber Thurman Death First reported Monday by ProPublicaIt came just two weeks after Georgia passed a strict abortion ban in 2022, following a U.S. Supreme Court 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 do anything to get my baby, our baby, the help that she needed,” said Thurman’s mother, Shanette Williams.
Harris praised their bravery in her speech, calling the “health care crisis” caused by the overturning of Roe v. Wade a “health care crisis.” “They have no right to be in your womb,” Winfrey added.
Natalie Griffith, the student who was shot twice at Apalachee High School in Georgia last month, has been reunited with her parents. Her mother shared the fear she felt after learning of the shooting at her son’s school.
“No parent should have to go through this,” said a tearful Marilda Griffith, rushing from work and then running to school to check on her daughter. She advocated for federal measures to curb gun violence.
Assault rifles are designed to kill as many people as possible on the battlefield and “do not belong on the streets of civilian society,” Harris said.
The event comes as Harris works to continue sharing her biography and philosophy with voters during her brief presidential campaign, with early voting already underway in some states.
Harris has limited her outreach to traditional media, prioritizing instead the casual and often controlled digital engagement that her campaign hopes 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 surrounding stage had the look of a college campus, with brick pillars and a backdrop of trees and green grass beneath the seats of the hundreds of spectators. Video screens in the hall showed dozens of other fans.
“I look at these screens, Oprah, and I look at who’s in the room, and it’s America,” Harris said.
The event, intended as a rallying cry for Harris supporters, emerged organically after the Black Women for Harris rally drew tens of thousands of spectators and raised $1.5 million after Harris took over from Biden when he ended his campaign. These included The White Shop for Harris, The Comedies for Harris and The Swifties for Harris.
The event included a direct call to action for the audience to volunteer for Harris’ campaign and to call and knock on Democratic doors.
Urging “every decent person, every caring person” to support Harris, Winfrey said of Trump: “We are better than this.”
Book and Miller write for the Associated Press. Boak is from Farmington Hills, Michigan. Miller reported from Washington.
