With less than a week until the midterms, Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate and first female African-American nominee Stacey Abrams is enlisting the help of another prominent African-American woman: Oprah.
Oprah Winfrey plans to travel to Georgia this week to campaign on behalf of Abrams, participating in two town halls on Thursday and knocking on doors to encourage people to vote for Abrams.
This is the first time Winfrey has campaigned in-person with a political candidate since appearing with then-candidate Barack Obama in 2008. The former president will also be campaigning on behalf of Abrams, who he has endorsed. Obama is due to appear at a get out the vote event in Atlanta on Friday at Morehouse College. Former Vice President Joe Biden and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker have also provided in-person support for Abrams.
Meanwhile, Abrams’ opponent, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, has been endorsed by President Trump. And the race is expected to be a close one: election prediction sites such as Cook Political Report and RealClear Politics have called it a toss-up, while an amalgamation of polls posted by FiveThirtyEight shows the two candidates neck-and-neck. If neither candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, the race could head to a runoff.
Regardless of what happens, Abrams said in a statement that she is “honored” to have Oprah join her on the campaign trail for “uplifting and honest conversations with voters about the clear choice before us in this election and the boundless potential of Georgians.”
“Oprah Winfrey has inspired so many of us through the years with her unparalleled ability to form real connections and strengthen the bonds of family and community,” she added.