Oprah Winfrey called upon independent and undecided voters to support Vice President Kamala Harris on this year’s presidential ballot during a rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday evening.
The media mogul opened her speech by emphasizing: “America is an ongoing project. It requires commitment. It requires being open to the hard work and the heart work of democracy and every now and then, it requires standing up to life’s bullies.”
Winfrey then offered an example of the “best of America,” squeezing in a dig at Donald Trump’s running mate J.D Vance’s largely unpopular “cat lady” remarks: “When a house is on fire, we don’t ask about a homeowner’s race or religion. We don’t wonder who their partner is or how they voted — no! We just try to do the best we can to save them. And if the place happens to belong to a childless cat lady, well, we try to get that cat out too.”
Her hypothetical anecdote drew cheers from the crowd as Winfrey pressed on and told the story of New Orleans civil rights icon Tessie Prevost, who died last month and was born “not long after the Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional.” Winfrey credited Prevost, along with Ruby Bridges, Leona Tate, and Gail Etienne, for breaking barriers and showing a young Harris “how to challenge the people at the top and empower the people at the bottom” and instilling in her “a passion for justice and freedom.”
“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,” declared Winfrey to thunderous applause.
Before closing her speech, the media mogul, a registered Independent, addressed voters directly: “I’m calling on all you independents and all you undecideds … Values and character matter most of all in leadership and in life. And more than anything — you know this is true — that decency and respect are on the ballot in 2024.”
“Let us choose the sweet promise of tomorrow over the bitter return to yesterday. We won’t go back. We won’t be set back, pushed back, bullied back, kicked back. We’re not going back,” she continued. “Let us choose truth. Let us choose honor and let us choose joy! Because that’s the best of America.”
