Oprah Winfrey on Wednesday dove into Georgia’s closely watched toss-up governor’s race by warning black Georgians they would be dishonoring their ancestors if they didn’t show up and vote on Nov. 6, amid suspicions that Republicans are working in the state to keep the black turnout low.
Winfrey arrived on short notice in the Peach State to campaign on behalf of Stacey Abrams, a Democrat who will become the nation’s first black female governor if she wins on Tuesday.
Abrams has charged her opponent, Brian Kemp, of using his role as Georgia’s state secretary to suppress the minority vote. Abrams is using the suppression charge to energize her base to get to the polls, in the face of polls showing that Kemp has a slight lead in the final week.
“I’m here today because of the men and women who were lynched, who were humiliated, who were discriminated against, who were suppressed, who were repressed and oppressed, for the right, for the equality at the polls,” Winfrey told the crowd. “And I want you to know that their blood has seeped into my DNA and I refuse to let their sacrifices be in vain.”
Winfrey said Abrams is “standing strong for the values that matter to me and matter to Georgians all over this state.”
Winfrey recounted the decades-old story of Georgia pastor Otis Moss, who she said walked “18 miles in one day just for the right to vote,” which he was ultimately denied, she said.
“So when I go to the polls and and I cast my ballot I cast it for Otis Moss Sr.,” Winfrey said.
Winfrey stopped short of accusing Kemp of disenfranchising black voters, but the theme of her speech to a crowd at the Cobb Civic Center’s in Marietta centered on the fight for black voting rights.
Winfrey hosted two town halls in Georgia on Thursday and also canvassed neighborhoods with Abrams, who she is supporting because of her agenda to expand Medicaid, protect the environment, and impose gun control measures.
[More: Oprah: Campaigning in GA doesn’t mean I’m testing ‘any waters’ for 2020]
Winfrey told the crowd to encourage their friends and neighbors to vote, and said if they did not cast a ballot, they would be “dishonoring” ancestors who didn’t have the right to vote.
“You are disrespecting and disregarding their legacy, their suffering, and their dreams when you don’t vote,” Winfrey said, “Honor your legacy. Honor your right to citizenship in this in which is the greatest country in the world.”
Kemp has denied purposely purging black voters and said he has been following the state’s “Exact Match” law, which requires a voter’s registration identification to exactly match their state-issued ID.
The majority of voter registrations thrown into “pending” status are minorities, according to civil rights groups who have filed a lawsuit against against Kemp to stop him from using the law.
“Under Secretary Kemp, more people have lost the right to vote in the state of Georgia,” Abrams said during a recent debate between the two candidates. “They have been purged and scared.”
Abrams accuses Kemp of “making people worried their vote doesn’t count” by enforcing the Exact Match requirement.
Kemp’s campaign said Thursday Abrams is using voter suppression as a tactic to distract from an agenda voters in Georgia don’t favor.
“Even with record voter registration and record early voting, Stacey Abrams and her left-wing radicals continue to manufacture stories about voter suppression,” Kemp campaign spokesman Ryan Mahoney told the Washington Examiner. “Clearly, they can’t win on her radical record or extreme agenda.”
