At a star-studded online rally with Oprah Winfrey, Harris discusses abortion rights, immigration and gun ownership
CNN
Kamala Harris sought to capitalize on the star power of Oprah Winfrey and Hollywood celebrities to win over persuadable voters during an online rally Thursday.
Vice President Kamala Harris sought to capitalize on the star power of Oprah Winfrey and a host of Hollywood celebrities to help her win over persuadable voters during an online rally Thursday night that ranged from participants’ searing accounts of personal loss and trauma to the Democrat’s unguarded remark about her own gun ownership. During the “Unite for America” event in Michigan, Harris also reflected on the change that Winfrey said she and others had observed in the vice president once she became the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer. “It seems to us that something happened to you the moment Joe Biden, President Biden, stepped aside and withdrew his candidacy, that a veil or something dropped, and you just stepped into your power,” Winfrey said. “We each have those moments in our lives where it’s time to step up,” Harris responded, adding that she felt a “sense of purpose,” given the stakes of November’s election. The event sought to capitalize on the skills and star power of Winfrey, who delivered her coveted endorsement of Harris at last month’s Democratic National Convention. At times, the night evoked Winfrey’s long-running talk show, with Harris taking questions from the media mogul and listening to members of the invited live audience gathered in a suburb of Detroit. Celebrities, ranging from Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts to comedian Chris Rock, chimed in virtually. The livestream was geared, in part, at mobilizing grassroots activity on Harris’ behalf in the hopes of edging past former President Donald Trump in what Harris campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon told the audience remains a “margin-of-error race.”
Vice President Kamala Harris directed her team this week to immediately schedule a visit to Georgia following a media report that revealed two deaths linked to the battleground state’s abortion restrictions, according to two sources familiar with the planning – a callback to the rapid response travel she’s done over the past year.
Attempts by conservatives to purge state voter rolls ahead of the November election, including from Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee, are ramping up, prompting concern from the Justice Department that those efforts might violate federal rules governing how states can manage their lists of registered voters.