FULL TRANSCRIPT: Kamala Harris’ Unite for America Rally With Oprah Winfrey

Three hours afterwards, 47,000 women were on the phone. And Jotaka and I were talking, wouldn’t it be great if we brought all the groups together because that phone call inspired all the other groups.

And so we said, wouldn’t it be great if we brought all the groups together at one time? And that’s why we’re here. So we have the Cat Ladies for Kamala here, Rural Americans for Harris, Caregivers for Kamala, Train Lovers for Harris-Waltz. I didn’t know there were train lovers.

Chefs for Kamala, love that group. Republicans for Harris, love that group even more. We’ve got Swifties, where are you, Swifties for Kamala. And in addition to thousands of you all who I am just meeting here tonight on screen, I see some faces I recognize.

Celebrity Guests

There’s Bryan Cranston. Hey, Bryan. Hey, hello, hello, hello. Where are you? Bryan Cranston. I hear Chris Rock is in the house. Chris, where are you? Chris Rock is in the house. Ben Stiller, Jennifer Lopez, Tracee Ellis Ross. Jennifer Lopez, where are you, Jennifer? Tracee Ellis Ross, where are you? Tracee Ellis, where are you on the screen?

Julia Roberts, where are you? And Miss Meryl Streep is in the house. So glad to have all of you familiar faces and those of you who are not yet familiar to all of us.

Bryan Cranston’s Thoughts

OPRAH WINFREY: Okay, Bryan, so happy to have you here tonight. Bryan Cranston, what do you want to say? Why did you want to join us here tonight?

BRYAN CRANSTON: I’m just smiling from ear to ear, Oprah. I have never felt this much joy and optimism in a campaign in a long time. So I’m just so appreciative of Kamala to be able to bring back that sense of optimism and to squash the cynicism and the vitriol and the rancor that just seems to be floating all around Washington. And I hope that we’re going to ride this wave into Washington. I’m here. I’m here to support. I can’t be happier than this candidate. I think she’s going to be a terrific president.

OPRAH WINFREY: Thank you, Bryan Cranston. Thanks, Bryan.

Chris Rock’s Perspective

OPRAH WINFREY: Thank you so much for joining us all the way from London, Chris Rock. So it’s the middle of the night there. You’re the one who told me. Remember, Chris and I ran into each other this summer. And Chris, no matter where you meet him, he’s funny. He goes, there’s going to be weeping in the streets. Are we ready for the weeping in the streets when Kamala Harris becomes president of the United States? Weeping in the streets. What do you want to say, Chris?

CHRIS ROCK: I’ve always been a fan of Kamala. Even back when she was running for… I remember writing her a check when she was like the district attorney for something. Maybe it was to get out of a parking ticket or something. I’ve been writing a check for a long time. And I just want to bring my daughters to the White House to meet this black woman president. That’s the reason. I think she would make a great president. And I’m ready to turn the page, man. All the negativity. It’s got to stop.

OPRAH WINFREY: Yeah, we’re so sick of the negativity. Thank you so much, Chris, for being up this early in the morning in London. Thank you.

Ben Stiller’s Contribution

OPRAH WINFREY: Ben Stiller, I heard you were on the comics for Kamala. And so I want to know where all the comics… Kamala. They were and I didn’t outdo anyone. All the comics.

BEN STILLER: But it was… it was really… I mean, it was great, though, because everybody is so energized. And I mean, I got to go to the convention and see and see her speech, which was just incredible. And feeling that energy, you know, feeling kind of going from a stop Trump mode into a go Kamala mode. The people starting to really hear what it’s about. And, you know, I have a 22-year-old daughter, 19-year-old son is going to be voting in his first election. My daughter’s, you know, her reproductive rights are incredibly important.

OPRAH WINFREY: Thank you, Ben. Thank you, Ben.

BEN STILLER: And I think standing up for…

OPRAH WINFREY: Yeah. Yeah, I think… I think what Chris said, we’re ready to turn the page. Thank you, Ben. Ben Stiller.

Win with Black Women

OPRAH WINFREY: So we are all together, united for one cause, and that is to get out the vote for Kamala Harris. George Takei is here. And you describe Win with Black Women as a collective love letter to ourselves. I know you all been doing this a long time. I was on a lot of calls with y’all in 2020. But we ain’t never seen nothing like this before. Right. Stand up. Tell us what is happening. Explain the power. Explain the power of what happened three hours after Kamala… We knew that she was going to step into this candidacy.

George Takei: First of all, Oprah, this is amazing to just be united. And that night, black women everywhere, we knew one thing. We wanted to gather in our joy and we knew that we needed to get to work. And on that night, black women, the forty-four thousand on that Zoom and the additional fifty thousand black women and our friends that joined to watch that Zoom.

What we knew was that it was a moment in our country to show what black women has always done. That love letter that I often speak of. That love letter is a letter that started years before any of us in this room, you myself were even born. And it started by black women years ago who knew this moment would be here. But they worked and they knew they wouldn’t see it. But one day we would. And I just think that it is an honor for all of us to be able to usher in this moment, knowing that those who watered this mighty field are now allowing us to eat of the fruit.

OPRAH WINFREY: Whoa. Thank you so much.

White Dudes for Harris

OPRAH WINFREY: And so, as I said, that call for women with black women is what inspired all the other groups. So white dudes for Harris raise a bunch of money. Lead organizer Ross Morales Rocketto is here. Right. And I hear you. I hear that. My producer told me you’ve been working in politics a long time and that I really for more than 20 years and that you said you hadn’t seen anything like this.

ROSS MORALES ROCKETTO: I’ve never… I haven’t seen anything like this since 2008 when President Obama was elected. And when he got elected, it was about a newness and a hope. This time it’s about an exuberance and an excitement that you only get from hard fought wins and hard fought losses and knowing what’s at stake. And that’s why we’re not going back.

OPRAH WINFREY: Thank you, Mr. White dude. Thank you so much.

Win with Black Men

OPRAH WINFREY: Thompson is the founder of Win with Black Men. Khalil, what do you want black men to know about this election?

KHALIL THOMPSON: Thank you, Oprah, Ms. Winfrey, for allowing us to be here and share in this amazing moment tonight. Brothers, men who are watching this and enjoying this moment, you have a choice. I choose experience and fortitude over something else. I come from a litany of amazing black women, Kathy Jahan, Megan Janelle. And I have an amazing seven-year-old CEO who runs my life. Hopefully she at home finished her homework. But we have a chance to do a performance review and give a promotion to the best qualified candidate to be president United States.

OPRAH WINFREY: OK, so let me just ask you this. Well, sorry, sorry. On the way here when I was coming through the airport, black men stopped me and he said he knew I guess he knew I was coming here for something like this. And he goes, well, I’m just tell you, I’m voting for Trump. I’m voting for Trump because he gave me that check. And so I’ve heard that from several people that I got the check. He gave us the check. And so therefore, forget about everything else. It’s about the checks.

KHALIL THOMPSON: Well, what he doesn’t know is that Congress actually paid for the check and the American people pay for it. Forty-five years. So, OK, look, there is a… what do you want to say to that kind of thinking? Because a lot of people feel that way.

We’re not a monolith. You can have your viewpoint and views for where you believe. But I think choosing if I have the choice to go into someone to make the best decision for my family, I don’t want someone who has 34 convictions. I don’t want someone who is going to choose hate over choosing the best possible way to unite us as a country. And so I see Vice President Harris as being the best person to do that.

OPRAH WINFREY: Thank you very much. Thank you.

White Women Answer the Call

OPRAH WINFREY: Shannon Watts. Shannon Watts is the organizer of white women answer the call. What do you want to say? What do you want to say specifically to white women in Oakland County, white women throughout the United States about this moment in answering the call?

SHANNON WATTS: Even if you are a white woman who is voting for Kamala Harris, that’s not enough. You have to get off the sidelines and do the work like black women and black men have been doing for decades and follow the lead of people like Joe Takei, whose lead we followed on our call. We have to be waking up every day and phone banking and knocking doors and sending texts. But most important, we have to be persuading the white women in our lives. We may be part of the 47 percent, but we know the 53 percent. There are mothers and our sisters and our friends. And we have to tell them to vote not just in their own self-interest, but in all women’s best interest.

OPRAH WINFREY: Right. And so that’s what tonight is all about. Tonight is all about leaving this moment here and figuring out what it is you can do in your own home, in your own community, in your own district to spread the word and spread the vote.

South Asians for Harris

OPRAH WINFREY: So Bianca Shaw is the youth director for South Asians for Harris. What are you hearing from the South Asian community?

BIANCA SHAW: Yes. Thank you so much for that question. I want to start off and say when I answered that call that I would be here, I said me. Are you sure? Because I cannot believe it. But thank you so much. South Asians for Harris, we are an official, you know, a NHPI campaign affiliate with the group. And I just want to say that the aunties, the uncles, the students were coming out in numbers we’ve never seen before, out to mobilize for Kamala Devi Harris in this campaign, because not only does she represent, you know, our South Asian heritage, our love for Italy, but she also represents the values that, you know, our parents, our grandparents immigrated to this country to keep and maintain. And she does that so well. And we need to maintain that.

OPRAH WINFREY: Thank you. It’s about the value. Thank you.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer

OPRAH WINFREY: OK. Before the vice president joins us, I want to bring out a local Michigander. I love saying Michigander around here. She’s known as Big Grinch. Governor Gretchen Whitmer. We’re so happy to be in your state.

GOVERNOR GRETCHEN WHITMER: Thank you. I’m glad you’re here.

OPRAH WINFREY: We want everybody who can vote, obviously, to vote. But it’s very important for women. So what do you want to say to women?

GOVERNOR GRETCHEN WHITMER: Well, this is going to be a big, close race. Michigan is always tight. We know we’re feeling good, but we’ve got to translate that feeling into action. We deserve a leader who is strong and kind. It’s not mutually exclusive. And that’s why I think this moment is so important for all of us today, but for our kids and future generations, too. There’s so much at stake here from our individual reproductive freedom to the ability to get ahead and make a good living and take care of your family. That’s all on the line this election.

OPRAH WINFREY: Yes. Strong and kind. Yes. Isn’t that a notion? And what can Michigan do to help get Kamala Harris to the White House?

GOVERNOR GRETCHEN WHITMER: I think we’ve got to do the hard work. In 2016, we were short 11,000 votes. Two votes per precinct, which tells you that a conversation you have with a loved one or a neighbor or a fellow parishioner, whomever in your life you can talk to, we’ve got to do it. Do something, as Michelle Obama said at the convention.

OPRAH WINFREY: Well, this is what we’re doing tonight. We’re doing something. Thank you for allowing us to be here. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Have a seat there.

Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon

OPRAH WINFREY: I want to bring in right now, I want to bring in right now the chair of the Harris Walz campaign, Jen O’Malley. Dylan, Jen, Jen. Hello. Have you seen anything like this?

JEN O’MALLEY DILLON: No. It’s great fun.

OPRAH WINFREY: Tell us what needs to happen from this day until November 5th.

JEN O’MALLEY DILLON: So, first of all, this campaign is so inspired by the grassroots organizations that have come together like this. And it is making us stronger as a campaign to work together. We wouldn’t be here without them today. We have 47 days left. And you all know the stakes. You wouldn’t be here. And while we have this extraordinary growing enthusiasm that the vice president and Governor Walsh are seeing everywhere, we are still in a margin of error race.

Campaign Strategy

JEN O’MALLEY DILLON: It’s tied. It’s tied right here in Michigan. It’s tied in all the battleground states. So it’s going to take all of us to build a path forward. Many pathways to 270 electoral votes. That’s what we’re focused on in the campaign. In every state, we have to register more people. We have to mobilize our voters to turn out to vote.

And then we have got to go persuade those people that still don’t know enough about the vice president and her vision for the future. And if we do that together, all of us, we’re going to get over the top. But it’s really going to take all of us. And to make sure that you’re working in your own lives, have those hard conversations.

In big and small ways, we’re going to inch our way over the finish line because we’re going to be able to do it together. And don’t you need money? Well, we do. We do. And these groups need money, too. All of us do. Because the work is happening on the ground and in the communities. So if you want to help in any way at all in the campaign, go to go.com, lyharris.com.

But if you want to help and not be formally engaged with us and join any of these groups here, that’s what we need, too. It’s going to take all of us. And I think that everybody on the screens, everybody in this room, everybody who’s listening, you become your own grassroots organization when we leave this moment that we’re sharing here tonight and you do what you can in your community. It’s not enough just to join us all.

We love having you here. But the rah-rah moment is going to end and then we need to get to work. We need to get busy.

OPRAH WINFREY: OK, thank you, Jen.

Social Media Impact

OPRAH WINFREY: I have to say, I have to just say this, that the social media team for the Harris campaign has been killing it. They have been killing it. I think I think that team helped spark this people led movement. And here’s a short look at the rallying cry across social media.

[Various social media comments and testimonials are read out]

Vice President Kamala Harris Joins

OPRAH WINFREY: Oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh. Madam Vice President. Hello. Welcome to Michigan.

KAMALA HARRIS: It’s so good to be back in. Thank you so much for everything you do for the state.

OPRAH WINFREY: Thank you. Well. Thank you. See this. We have a thousand here representing people from all over the country. Everyone. Can you. Can you feel it? Can you feel the joy rising in here?

KAMALA HARRIS: I can. And I have to tell you, there’s so much that I love about our campaign because it really is about the people. And I look around at these screens, Oprah. I look at who’s in the room. And this is America. This is. This is America.

You know, I was saying with a group of friends earlier, I think in this moment where we’ve dealt with so much that I think is quite exhausting around powerful forces that would try and divide us and try to have us as Americans pointing fingers at each other. Yes. That this movement that is about reminding each other that we have so much more in common than what separates us is so critically important. And this is about the strength of who we are as Americans.

And this movement that we’re in. About, as I like to say, seeing in the face of a stranger, a neighbor. Yes. Yes. Right. An extension of love thy neighbor, that you literally in the face of a stranger, see a neighbor. Yes. And approach each other with that level of dignity and grace and kindness.

OPRAH WINFREY: Well, that’s exactly what happened with Win With Black Women. Yes. I know you’ve known Jotaka for many years. Thank you, my dear. That’s exactly what happened. She started it. They had to be called. It’s your fault. They had to be called. And then said, let’s open the door. Yes. Let’s open the door and invite everybody else in.

KAMALA HARRIS: And everybody actually came. Organically. Yes. Organically. Like, this is the beauty of our country. You know, there’s so much at stake in this election. And ultimately, the question before us is, what kind of country do we want to live in? And the beauty of a democracy, as long as we can hold on to it, the beauty of a democracy is each of us has the power. Each of us has the power. That’s right. To answer that question. That’s right. Everybody on this call and beyond has the power.

A Turning Point

OPRAH WINFREY: But can I just start with this? Yes, please. I have to say this, because in all of my private conversations, Gail, and I’ve said this a hundred times. Yes. And everybody is saying it. I know you have. It seems to us that something happened to you. The moment Joe Biden, President Biden, steps aside and withdrew his candidacy, that a veil or something dropped and you just zipped into your power. I mean, literally, looking at you at a speech like the week before, which was a great speech, very nice. And then the next week, I saw you walking in the thing. And I said, what happened to you?

KAMALA HARRIS: You know, we each have those moments in our lives where it’s time to step up. Time to step up. Time to step up.

OPRAH WINFREY: Well, the moment you heard, I mean, I really have been saying to people, it felt like a veil dropped and you sort of stepped through that veil. Did that actually, did you feel like that?

KAMALA HARRIS: I felt a sense of responsibility, to be honest with you. And with that comes a sense of purpose. But, I mean, we’re all here and you all are taking time out of your busy lives, everyone here, everyone on the screen, because there really is so much at stake. You know, I have spent the majority of my career being concerned about the well-being of other people. Yeah. As I’ve said, my career as a prosecutor, I never looked at a victim or a witness and asked them, are you a Republican or a Democrat? The only thing I ever asked them is, are you OK?

OPRAH WINFREY: Are you OK? I know when I heard that. You know. Touch me.

KAMALA HARRIS: And traveling this country and knowing what is at stake in terms of fundamental freedoms, what’s at stake in terms of fighting against hate and those efforts to divide us. And I do know that I’m in a position to do something about it. So I felt a great responsibility.

And the incredible power of the people, right, who I’m not the only leader in this. We’re all leaders in this. This is so much bigger than me. It’s about who we are as Americans. And it’s about making clear what we stand for. And what we stand for is it is about the ideals upon which we were founded, including the importance of freedom and the importance of independence and the importance of dignity and purpose. But it is also about what we stand for in terms of our values. I think of it this way.

Values and Leadership

KAMALA HARRIS: I think a lot boils down to values. I just read values on the line here. It does. I mean, think about it, Oprah. The idea that some would suggest and that my opponent suggests, which is that the measure of the strength of a leader based on who you beat down. Come on. The real measure of the strength of a leader. You don’t know who you lift up.

And it’s important for us to articulate that. You know, ever since the debate, we feel for our fellow citizens in Springfield. Do you not think about the fellow citizens in Springfield, Ohio, the Haitian families, the non-Haitian families, everybody having to deal with this lie that has endangered the lives of Haitian people and anybody who looks Haitian. Everybody in America feels for that.

And also everybody in America, left, right, middle, has concerns about immigration. And I’m told that Justin. Justin, where are you in the audience? Hello.

JUSTIN: Hello, Madam Vice President.

KAMALA HARRIS: You live in Michigan.

JUSTIN: Yes, ma’am.

OPRAH WINFREY: I love saying hello, Madam Vice President. What’s your question? It’s an immigration question.

JUSTIN: My question for you is when you become president, what would be your specific steps?

KAMALA HARRIS: Yeah, of course.

JUSTIN: What would be specific steps for strengthening the border?

Immigration and Border Security

KAMALA HARRIS: So it’s a wonderful and important question. You know, my background was as a prosecutor and I was also the elected attorney general for two terms of a border state. So this is not a theoretical issue for me. This is something I’ve actually worked on. I have prosecuted transnational criminal organizations for the trafficking of guns, drugs and human beings. I take very seriously the importance of having a secure border and ensuring the safety of the American people.

Sadly, where we are now can be traced most recently back to the fact that when the United States Congress, members of Congress, including some of the most conservative Republicans, came up with a border security bill. And here’s what that border security bill would have done. It would have put 1,500 more border agents at the border. Let me tell you, those border agents are working around the clock. It would have just been about giving them some support and relief, which is probably why the border agents actually endorsed the bill.

It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl. And I’m looking at people from all over the country here. So I don’t need to tell the folks who are watching this what fentanyl has done to families, to kids in our country, and the need to take seriously stemming the flow coming into our country and addressing that extraordinary and tragic issue in terms of its effect. The bill would have allowed us to have more resources to prosecute transnational criminal organizations.

And it would have been part of the solution. And Donald Trump called up those folks and said, don’t put that bill on the floor for a vote. He blocked the bill. And you know why? Because he preferred to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem. And he has put his personal political security before border security. Because understand, even in the intervening months, what that bill would have done to give support to folks who care about this issue. And this, again, gets to the point about what does leadership really look like?

KAMALA HARRIS: And is it about you or is it about the people? Is it about running on problems or fixing problems? My work and my career has always been about saying, let’s fix problems. Let’s address the needs because we know it’s within our capacity to do that.

So to answer Justin’s question, now that that bill has gone and hasn’t passed, will you reintroduce that? Absolutely. And when I am elected president of the United States, I will make sure that bill gets to my desk and I will sign it into law.

Cost of Living Concerns

OPRAH WINFREY: A majority of young Americans, 18 to 34, say that the cost of living is their top issue ahead of the election. Let’s take a look.

[Various comments about the high cost of living are shared]

OPRAH WINFREY: Well, Rachel and Garrett are joining us on Zoom from Pennsylvania. And I understand your sister and brother in law moved in and you’re hoping to save money to have a second child.

RACHEL: That’s right. Hi, Oprah. Hi, Madam Vice President. Nice to be with you all.

OPRAH WINFREY: Yes. Hi. And so what do you what did you want to say to the vice president?

RACHEL: So, Madam Vice President, we are like many, many young Americans just experiencing a very high cost of living. We ended up giving up our apartment, moving in with our parents who are so gracious to take us in for over a year so that we could save money and ultimately buy a home, because that’s what we thought the American dream was to get married and buy a home and have a baby. And now here we are in our mortgage is incredibly higher than what we thought it would be. And my sister and our brother in law are living with us right now so that they can hopefully one day do the same. And while it’s beneficial for us because they help us pay off some of our mortgage, it’s also beneficial for them because they can save on cheaper rent. But we really would love to know what your plan is to help lower the cost of living.

KAMALA HARRIS: Yeah. First of all, thank you both for being here. And yours is a story I hear around the country as I travel. And in terms of both rightly having the right to have aspirations and dreams and ambitions for your family and working hard and finding that the American dream is for this generation and so many recently far more elusive than it’s been. And we need to deal with that. And there are a number of ways.

One is bringing down the cost of everyday necessities, including groceries. So that’s why I’m taking on, for example, price gouging, which is when, you know, most companies and corporations are good. But for those bad ones, they take advantage of people, especially during a pandemic or extreme weather, and they end up jacking up prices and there needs to be accountability and consequence for that. So I’m going to be taking on price gouging.

But it’s also about dealing with what we need to do around homeownership. Right. So as someone mentioned during this film, look, I grew up a child of a mother who worked very hard. She raised me and my sister and she saved up. And by the time I was a teenager, she was able to buy a home. And we grew up actually for a long time in an apartment on top of a child care center that was owned by the woman we called our second mother because she helped my mother raise us. And she was a small business owner, Ms. Shelton.

So I’ll bring all this together to tell you the way I think about it is one, when people work hard and have a dream of buying a home, we should give you the opportunity to be able to do that. Which is why part of my plan is for first time homeowners, buyers to have a twenty-five thousand dollars down payment assistance to buy your first home. Because people just need to be able to get their foot in the door and then you’ll do the hard work.

Part of my plan is what we need to do to support small businesses, because my second mother was a small business owner and I love our small businesses and our small business owners. They are not only business leaders, they are community leaders. They mentor, they hire locally. And we have so many entrepreneurs in our country who have great ideas, incredible work ethic, but not necessarily access to capital because not everybody like my opponent was handed four hundred million dollars on a silver plate that he filed bankruptcy six times on. And so part of my plan is to give startup small businesses a fifty thousand dollar tax deduction to start up this small business. Right now, it’s five thousand dollars.

OPRAH WINFREY: Nobody can start a small business with five thousand dollars.

KAMALA HARRIS: So that’s part of my plan. That’s a teeny tiny business. That’s a business in the concept of a business. You know where I’m going. It just hasn’t happened.

Part of it is to speak to you guys and your family and your dreams is what we need to do around giving middle class families tax breaks. And so part of my plan is also to extend and expand the child tax credit to six thousand dollars so that you can in the first year of your child’s life have the resources to be able to buy a crib and a car seat and clothes for your baby. Knowing that’s such an extraordinarily important time in their development. And you shouldn’t have to worry about how you’re going to take care of their basic needs.

All of this and more is part of what I plan to build and I call it an opportunity economy. And it’s basically about creating opportunities. Knowing so many people have the ambition, have the aspirations, are working hard, but just need opportunity to reach their goals and their dreams.

OPRAH WINFREY: I saw you smiling with that twenty-five thousand dollar credit for the home. I saw that smile on your face and the six thousand. Thank you all so much.

I wanted to introduce you to Shelby, who’s also in our virtual audience. Shelby from Virginia, who’s also struggling with the cost of living. Tell us your story, Shelby. Why?

SHELBY: Hi. Hi, Madam Vice President. I’m 24 years old. I’m a graduate student living with my parents and I want to move out next year and potentially buy a home. And I’m concerned about the affordability of one with the extra costs and bills I’m paying now, along with the bills and costs I will pay in the future, too. And so everything just has a cost and everything is so expensive. And so I’m worried about my capacity and how I’m able to fully support myself once I do live independently.

OPRAH WINFREY: You sound like one of my daughter girls from South Africa graduated. She was like, I hate adulting. I hate adulting because adulting isn’t going so well.

KAMALA HARRIS: Yes. Well, first of all, congratulations on all the success you’ve already achieved. And it is your story and the story of our friends before you is really that’s the American story, right? You are working hard. You have goals. You have ambitions.

And so part of it is, again, the twenty-five thousand dollar down payment assistance. Part of it is what we need to do to also push back against a very different vision for our country. Because, look, in this election, there are two very different visions for our country. One for me that is focused on the future, including you, and another that is focused on the past.

What Donald Trump, what my opponent plans on doing for the economy is doing what he did the last time he was president and giving another tax break for billionaires and the biggest corporations that would add five trillion dollars to our deficit. And get this. He plans on what doing what I call a Trump sales tax, which is basically he’s going to put a 20 percent tax on everyday necessities. That economists have estimated will cost the average American four thousand dollars more a year, which is why Goldman Sachs, which is why Moody’s, which is why Wharton School of Business, which is why 16 Nobel laureates have collectively determined after analyzing our plans. One, mine would strengthen the economy. His would weaken it to that on his plan. He would actually blow up inflation and invite a recession by the middle of next year.

So when you think about the cost of living, my approach is about lifting you up. His would be about actually weakening our economy. And I feel very strongly when an individual, when a small business, when a family, when the middle class is strong, America is strong.

OPRAH WINFREY: Amen to that. Amen to that. Thank you, Shelby. Thank you, Rachel and Garrett.

Reproductive Freedom

OPRAH WINFREY: So the Harris campaign kicked off the fighting for reproductive freedom bus tour to support the fundamental right for women to make decisions about our own bodies. And here is a short tape on that.

[A video about the overturning of Roe v. Wade and its impact is shown]

OPRAH WINFREY: So for the millions of you who watch the Democratic National Convention, you will remember Hadley Duvall telling her incredibly powerful story. In case you didn’t see it, here’s just a brief look.

HADLEY DUVALL: Growing up, I was an all American girl, varsity soccer captain, cheerleading captain, homecoming queen and survivor. I was raped by my stepfather after years of sexual abuse. At age 12, I took my first pregnancy test and it was positive.

OPRAH WINFREY: Hadley is here. Stand up, Hadley. I can tell you, we are all standing up because we are so impressed by your courage to stand up and share your story. Where did that come from, the strength to do this? Because I’m sure you thought long and hard before deciding to go public with your story.

HADLEY DUVALL: When Roe v. Wade was overturned, I woke up with a harsh reality of my abuse was over but my story is not. And I just could not fathom thinking about the other Hadleys out there that don’t have that choice, that don’t have somebody to go to. So being able to find courage and be the light for them, that’s really what I do it for.

OPRAH WINFREY: And so what do you want to say to other people who are voting in this election regarding what happened to you and what that means?

HADLEY DUVALL: You can’t wait until it’s too late to care about reproductive health care because then it’s too late. And when it affects you, it hits and you can’t deny it. You can’t look at someone with a story like mine and say it didn’t happen. And there are more people like me out there and there are going to be so many more who deserve their options. They deserve their choices.

Let’s get involved. We have someone who’s willing to hear us at a level like never before. We have someone who wants to know what we want in this country. We have someone who wants to lift up our voice. And we need to show out and show up for her just like she’s showing out and showing up for us.

OPRAH WINFREY: All right. Is there something you wanted to say to Madam Vice President?

HADLEY DUVALL: Madam Vice President, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for seeing us, for hearing us when the Supreme Court won’t. Thank you for fighting and really showing us that life is not about the hard things that you go through. You don’t bow down even when you’re the underdog, especially when you’re the underdog. You stand up and you stand tall. And you give me so much hope and so much strength. And thank you.

KAMALA HARRIS: I hope you continue to use your voice. I hope you continue that.

Amber’s Story

OPRAH WINFREY: This week, the case of a young woman who lost her life after the abortion ban took place in Georgia made national headlines. Amber’s case came to light through the reporting of journalist Kavitha Surana. With ProPublica. And so, listen to her story.

[Amber Nicole Thurman’s story is shared, detailing her tragic death after complications from an abortion]

OPRAH WINFREY: Amber’s mother, Shanette, and older sisters CJ and Andrika are here. And they are, they wanted to be here tonight to speak out for the first time. Ms. Shanette, what do you want us to know about Amber’s story?

SHANETTE: Initially, I did not want the public to know my pain. I wanted to go through in silence. But I realized that it was selfish.

OPRAH WINFREY: I want y’all to know Amber was not a statistic. She was loved by a family, a strong family. And we would have done whatever to get my baby, our baby, the help that she needed. When ProPublica came to my home, I pushed them away. No, no, no. No, but Kavithia, she kept, she was persistent. She said, it was something that you needed to know. You have to hear me.

Women around the world, people around the world need to know that this was preventable. Two years later, after speaking with my daughters, because I lost strength, I lost hope. You’re looking at a mother that is broken. The worst pain ever that a mother, that a parent could ever feel. Her father and myself and the family, you’re looking at it.

OPRAH WINFREY: Well, we appreciate so deeply you being here. And we’re all watching you hear that tape and those words. We know how re-traumatizing that is and the strength it takes for you to be here to tell your story. And we deeply appreciate it. And I have to ask you, as her sisters, how are you coping? And what does knowing that this could have been prevented, how does that fit with you? How do you cope with that on a daily basis?

CJ: I mean, it’s heartbreaking. You know, that was my baby sister. I love my baby sister, you know. I’m beyond hurt, disappointed. I feel guilty. I wish I could have helped her, you know, because she was suffering. And we had no idea. We trusted them to take care of her, you know. And they just let her die because of some stupid abortion ban. They treated her like she was just another number. They didn’t care for her as if, you know, she was their daughter or their, you know, granddaughter. Yeah. You know, she’s not here. She’ll never come back.

OPRAH WINFREY: Yeah. And, Drieka, what do you want to say?

DRIEKA: I want to say that it is very disheartening that my sister was allowed to suffer for 20 hours. She suffered. It was nothing that we could do to help her. We trusted the health care professionals to do their job and save her. But they failed her.

OPRAH WINFREY: Well, I think the most powerful thing that you’ve said here, Ms. Shanette, is that your daughter is not a statistic. She had a life. She was loved by her sisters, loved by her family, loved by those who knew her. And she’s not just a statistic. And we are happy to speak her name tonight in this room, talking about what this country needs in terms of reproductive rights and freedom. What do you want to say, Madam Vice President?

KAMALA HARRIS: I’m just so sorry. And the courage that you all have shown is extraordinary because also you just learned about how it is that she died. They just recently learned. How?

OPRAH WINFREY: Yeah. And Amber’s mom shared with me that the word over and over again in her mind is preventable. Yeah. Preventable. That word keeps coming to her. And this story is a story that is sadly not the only story of what has been happening since these bans have taken place. And, you know, so just a step back in terms of how we got here. The former president chose three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would overdo the protections of Roe v. Wade. And they did as he intended. And in state after state, including yours, these abortion bans have been passed that criminalize health care providers. In a couple of states, prison for life, Oprah. Prison for life in a couple of states for a doctor or nurse who provides health care.

And so it seems very apparent. Even when the mother’s life is in danger. Here’s the problem with that. Here’s the problem with that. So is she on death’s door before you actually decide to give her help? That’s the problem. Is that what we’re saying?

OPRAH WINFREY: Yeah. That you’ve got to prove you’re on death’s door.

KAMALA HARRIS: Literally a doctor or a nurse has to say she might die any minute. Better give her now care because otherwise I might go to prison for life in some cases. Think about what we’re doing in terms of saying that. Certain people who are in these state houses and then starting with the former president, I think they’re in a better position than a doctor or a nurse to determine when their patient needs medical care. This literally in an amber story highlights the fact that among everything that is wrong with these bans and what has happened in terms of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. It’s a health care crisis. It’s a health care crisis that affects the patient and the profession.

Going back to Hadley’s story. Hadley, you’ve been so remarkable in telling your story and being so strong in the way you do it. Both of these stories really, I mean the courage out of pain for you to tell these stories to help other people is just extraordinary. Hadley, you’ve been so remarkable.

OPRAH WINFREY: Oprah, I don’t know if you know this, but when I was in high school, I learned that my best friend was being molested by her stepfather.

KAMALA HARRIS: Yes, we heard that story on the DNC.

OPRAH WINFREY: And you had the courage then to go to her and say, you’ve got to come to our house.

KAMALA HARRIS: Yeah, and she came to stay with us. I called my mother, she came to stay with us. These same legislators who would be saying, you know, criminalized health care providers are also saying that after a person’s body has been violated, that they have no right to make a decision about what happens to their body next. That’s immoral.

OPRAH WINFREY: Yeah. I think it’s not just immoral. Here’s what I want to say. I just don’t believe that those legislators, that the government has a right to be in your womb. They have no right to be in your womb with decisions about your womb. And one does not have to abandon their faith. Right. Or deeply held belief to agree the government should not be telling her what to do.

KAMALA HARRIS: Absolutely. If she chooses, she will talk with her priest, her pastor, her rabbi, her imam, but not the government telling her what’s in her best interest.

OPRAH WINFREY: Well, this is a long healing process for this family. And we thank you and we hope that by being amongst people who heard you and heard your daughter’s story will be meaningful you in this journey to healing. Thank you so much for being here.

Campaign Engagement in Wisconsin

OPRAH WINFREY: OK, I want to also. I want to hear from Star Walker, who is a campaign engagement organizer in Milwaukee, one of my hometowns, Milwaukee. Hi, Star. What’s going on in Wisconsin?

STAR WALKER: Hi, Oprah. Hi, Madam Vice President. We are fired up here in Wisconsin. I’m an engagement organizer. So I put in their personal network as friends, family, teammates. Yeah. And by empowering people to leverage their relationships, we amplify their voices and deliver progress. We’re fired up. We also know it’s a razor thin race. So just like in 2020, this is going to be won by a field margins on us to roll up our sleeves and do the work.

Let’s make phone calls and knock on doors. Go to go dot Kamala Harris dot com to join the people power movement. That way, when we look back, we won’t just be remembering how we felt. We’ll be remembering what we did.

OPRAH WINFREY: I love that. That’s a big takeaway because we’re all feeling really good right now. But what really matters is what are we going to do? What are we going to do? Thank you so much, Star.

Celebrity Supporters

OPRAH WINFREY: I see somebody else on the screen. Julia Roberts. Hi, Julia.

JULIA ROBERTS: Hey, I heard you were so excited. You wanted to be here tonight. Why?

Well, first of all, Oprah, thank you for hosting this, because I guess if I started a voting club, it would be conversationalists. Because to talk, to listen, to be heard, to have this back and forth is so unique in this campaign to beautiful, wonderful Kamala Harris, who I’ve had the good fortune of knowing for many years. And I am a mother of two kids. This is their first chance to vote in an election. And I couldn’t be more excited for them to have the legacy to say that their first vote they ever cast for president was for you. I have just chills saying that out loud.

OPRAH WINFREY: Are you all going to the polls together? Are you organizing a party? Are the motors having a poll party? What’s happening?

JULIA ROBERTS: I wish we were all going together. In fact, you know, they are in college. So we will be separated on the great day, but in spirit united always for what we believe in and what we, you know, I feel like it’s interesting. We talk so much about being Americans united for something, but this has become such a global representation of our country and what we stand for. And I get to travel internationally a lot. And I want people to say, oh, you’re American and not, oh, how’s it going over there?

OPRAH WINFREY: Yes.

JULIA ROBERTS: So I want to get back to that space.

OPRAH WINFREY: Exactly. Thank you, Julia. Exactly. Thank you. And hey, there’s Tracy Ellis Ross coming up there. Tracy, we should, now listen, if anybody should have a voting party, I think it should be at your house because you have great parties, girl.

TRACEE ELLIS ROSS: I just want to say hi. Hello, Madam Vice President. It’s just an honor. I actually have never met you, which is crazy. And hi, Oprah.

OPRAH WINFREY: Wait, what did I miss? We just saw each other the other day.

TRACEE ELLIS ROSS: Okay. Oh, hi, Tracy. Hi. Hi, Oprah. How you doing?

OPRAH WINFREY: I’m good. This is exciting though, isn’t it? Isn’t it exciting?

TRACEE ELLIS ROSS: It’s exciting. It’s exciting because I believe in democracy. I believe in the future of our country and reproductive freedom, bodily autonomy, women leading. I believe in decency. The idea of leading with joy and kindness has always been in my DNA. And I’m here both for the seriousness of this election, but the joy with which it is being handled. It is stunning.

And then I also really want to remind everybody, it hasn’t been mentioned, but voting up and down the ballot is incredibly important. Your freedom and your daily life are all the way up and down that ballot. People are policies, and we need the right people in all areas, all positions.

And then I would like to say to you two women, thank you for what you represent because as a 52-year-old childless woman, I want to say to the people who think that a woman’s worth is measured in her baby count, I mean, shout out to all the amazing mothers, but the childless women have been mothering the world and elevating culture as aunties, godmothers, teachers, mentors, sisters, and friends, and the list goes on. And you do not need to push out a baby to help push humanity forward.

OPRAH WINFREY: Amen to that. Thank you so much, Stacey Ellis Ross. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

School Shootings and Gun Violence

OPRAH WINFREY: So another important issue of this election is, of course, our safety. And just two weeks ago, our country experienced yet another horrific school shooting. Watch this.

[A video about school shootings and gun violence is shown]

OPRAH WINFREY: Now, just sit with that number for a second. It’s a number until it’s your child. This is not normal, y’all. This is not normal, and this is not right. Other people in other countries do not have this issue. We, Americans, we have to do better. We have to do better. We cannot continue to just settle for our thoughts and prayers. Lives are being destroyed.

15-year-old Natalie Griffith and her parents, Doug and Marilda, are here. And, Natalie, we are so sorry to know that you, too, have been added to that number because you were in algebra class when you were shot twice by a 14-year-old fellow student. We’re so glad that you lived to tell your story. And so, how are you tonight?

NATALIE GRIFFITH: Well, before that thing, the video, I was very happy. I still am very happy to be here and to tell my story and what happened, because it was a terrible thing. And it should not have… What’s it called?

OPRAH WINFREY: Where were you shot? Where were you physically shot?

NATALIE GRIFFITH: I was shot right here on my shoulder and then around here, right?

OPRAH WINFREY: I was saying that 383,000 students in our country, the United States of America, have been exposed to violence, that same scene that you experienced in your school. Had you all been having drills or preparation for what should happen, should there be a shooting?

NATALIE GRIFFITH: I’ve had intruder drills and fire drills and stuff. In my old school, we’ve had a fire drill at Apalachee, but it was the first two months of the school year. We hadn’t had an intruder drill yet, so we weren’t even completely sure where to go in the classroom. We all just… I remember being totally cuddled.

OPRAH WINFREY: So, I was watching your mother, even just when that tape was coming on. It’s still very much PTSD, very much traumatic. You’re still reliving it. And how has it been for you? How were you notified that there was a shooting at the school?

MARILDA GRIFFITH: I was notified by a friend. She called me. I was at work. And she called me and she said, do you know about the shooting? With the school that she goes to, the Apalachee said, no, I don’t. And then she said there was a shooting at the Apalachee High School. My heart was just dropping. My heart just got so heavy, and I could not… I just, like, I had to leave. I told my co-workers, I got to go, I have to leave. And the best thing I did is drop my knee on the floor and just start praying. I prayed for about 30 minutes for my work on the way to the…

I didn’t get to get to the school on my car. I had to leave my car at a gas station, about two, maybe two and a half, three miles. And I walk on foot, and I ran because my heart was so heavy. I could not get… I couldn’t get in touch with my daughter.

OPRAH WINFREY: And I hear you have a message for people in power regarding guns now.

MARILDA GRIFFITH: I do. I want to finish my story because no parent should go through this. I want to just finish what, you know…

OPRAH WINFREY: Yes, go ahead.

MARILDA GRIFFITH: The experience. You do not know what it feels until it’s you. You know, all those numbers that you show on the TV, you know, a lot of people that are here are mothers. You know, what are we doing about this? What are we doing? Let’s make sure that everybody listens. Let’s make sure that everybody hears it. The whole world needs to hear that we women that have our children, we have a job. That job is to protect our children. That job is to protect our nation. That job is to protect our country. We cannot dance. We cannot leave. We cannot let them go home. We have to stop it.

You know, I was asking earlier, where are those people? Where are they? They needed to make a noise. I’m ready to make a noise about this, and I’m ready to stop it. Because no one, no one knows what it feels when you can’t find your child, when you call her, you call her, she’s not answering. And when I went through it, you know, it’s just me that knows it. And I’m sure, I’m so sorry for those that lost their children, actually died. I can actually hug my child. My child is here, and I gave all these prayers to the Lord. Our Father in heaven, save my child. You know, but the other two mothers lost their kids, and the other teachers that died. You know, those people are suffering like I’m suffering. I’m very sorry for them. I’m very sorry that they lost their loved ones.

OPRAH WINFREY: And you have a message for the people in power.

MARILDA GRIFFITH: Yes, the people in power. Let’s make it a change. Let’s make it happen. Let’s make, you know, let’s just not hear about this. Who wants to just hear about this? We’ve got to change this. We’ve got to make it happen. You know?

OPRAH WINFREY: And Doug, Doug, I hear you’re not a registered Democrat, but you now say it doesn’t matter what side of the aisle you’re on when it comes to this issue. What change do you want to see now that has affected your family?

DOUG GRIFFITH: You know, common sense. You know, I think a first step would just be metal detectors in schools. You know, make a budget, make a plan. And the people that say, well, we’ve never really done stuff like that before, I don’t care. You know, they didn’t have metal detectors at airports at one time. You know, they didn’t have metal detectors at courthouses. You know, I think that if a child knew that he would get caught, the likelihood of him trying would be, there may be another target, but it wouldn’t be us having to worry about schools being hardened. You know?

KAMALA HARRIS: Yeah. I mean, I think that Doug has said it so eloquently, which is we just need to apply common sense. And look, I think for far too long on the issue of gun violence, some people have been pushing a really false choice to suggest you’re either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away. I’m in favor of the Second Amendment, and I’m in favor of assault weapons bans, universal background checks, red flag laws. And these are just common sense.

OPRAH WINFREY: I thought it was so powerful at the convention when you said you have guns.

KAMALA HARRIS: No, as a debate. I’m a gun owner, too.

OPRAH WINFREY: I do not know that.

KAMALA HARRIS: If somebody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot.

OPRAH WINFREY: Yes, yes. I hear that. I hear that.

KAMALA HARRIS: Probably should not have said that. My staff will deal with that later. But you have been a gun owner for a while.

OPRAH WINFREY: Yes, I have. Yes.

KAMALA HARRIS: But here’s my point, Oprah, is that I’m not trying to take everyone’s guns away. I believe in the Second Amendment, but we have to agree that, look, I did last fall a college tour with college-age young people, so I also did trade schools, and packed audience every time in their auditorium, I would ask, please raise your hand if at any point between kindergarten and 12th grade you had to endure an active shooter drill. Almost every hand went up. It was bone-chilling.

This is the way our kids are living. It’s bone-chilling. And think about it. You know, I grew up, we had fire drills only. Well, I grew up in California and we also had earthquake drills. But the fact that our children are sitting in a classroom where they should be fulfilling their God-given potential and exploring the wonders of the world, and some part of their brain realizes somebody could buster that classroom door with a weapon, with an assault weapon. And let’s all agree that the trauma, so many children, even those who have not directly experienced the tragedy. Just being in the environment, just being in the environment.

I cannot tell you the number of young people who, I mean, our kids had active shooter drills. They’re concerned that there might be somebody who would kill them while they are at school. This is not the sign of a civil society. It doesn’t have to be this way. It does not have to be this way. But we need to have the courage to act.

Look, my opponent, when he was told and knew about a shooting of a young girl, you know what he said? Get over it. Get over it. No, we’re not getting over it.

OPRAH WINFREY: No, and to the point, everyone should have a sense of collective responsibility for the children of our community and understand their right to live and be safe.

KAMALA HARRIS: I have personally prosecuted homicide cases. I know autopsies. I’ve seen autopsies. I’ve seen what these weapons do to the human body. And we’ve got to agree that, in particular when we’re talking about something like an assault weapon, it’s literally designed to be a tool of war. It has no place on the streets of a civil society. It’s designed to kill a lot of human beings quickly. And there are things we can do. I mean, thankfully, over the last three years, we’ve done some, but it is common sense.

OPRAH WINFREY: It just seems like common sense we would see this. And I think that the majority of Americans agree with you that we do not want assault weapons in the hands of children and other people who have no business with those types of weapons. We know this is true. So we thank you, Natalie, and your family for being here. And good luck in that marching band this year. I hear you’re going to go out for the marching band still.

MARILDA GRIFFITH: Thank you for inviting us. Unfortunately, it’s a sad moment for us, but I wanted to make sure that we came because we needed to be heard, and change has to be made, and we’re ready to fight for this.

OPRAH WINFREY: Thank you. Thank you.

Campaign Update from Nevada

OPRAH WINFREY: Okay, we want to hear what’s going on in another battleground state. Tracy is a regional organizing director in Nevada. Tracy, tell us how things are going for you.

TRACY LEE: Hi, everybody. I’m Tracy Lee, a regional organizing director in Nevada. I am the silver state this year because there’s so much on the line. From health care to lowering costs, these issues impact all of us. My team and I have been building relationships with voters across this state because here in Nevada we know that enthusiasm alone does not win campaigns. Organizing does.

So all of you watching tonight can become organizers, whether you talk to your sister, a roommate, or a grandparent about why you’re so excited to vote for Vice President Harris, you are organizing and energizing other supporters. So please go to Go.KamalaHarris.com to find ways to help, and enjoy the rest of tonight’s event, and let’s get to work.

OPRAH WINFREY: Let’s get to work. Let’s do something.

Meryl Streep’s Concerns

OPRAH WINFREY: Meryl Streep, hello. You and I. Hi, Meryl Streep. You and I have talked about these moments. How are you feeling? How are you feeling about the momentum?

MERYL STREEP: Oh, man. This has been overwhelming to have the privilege to sit in and listen to the testimony of the people here. Hello, President Harris. 47 days.

KAMALA HARRIS: 47 days, yes. From my mouth to God’s ear.

MERYL STREEP: And hello, Oprah. I think the word of the day has been preventable. Preventable. All of this. The surround of hatred and venom and toxicity and encouraging some segment of Americans to hate other segments of Americans. It’s just crazy, and nobody wants it. We’re done. We’re done with it.

I’m just… I wanted to ask you… God, I can’t believe I had this opportunity. I probably never will again. I have a little Debbie Downer moment, because actually, I think you’re going to win. I’m sure you’re going to win. But what happens when you win, and he doesn’t accept it? And you know that there’s going to be this long slog of shenanigans. And I’m wondering how we get to that moment, how we preserve certification on January 6th, because if it doesn’t happen, it’ll be maybe thrown back to the legislatures of the states.

And I’ve been working with state government citizens’ campaign, which is SGCAmerica.com. They’re doing the unglamorous, down-ballot work of promoting those candidates. Because we really… I’m worried about it. And I wonder if we’re ready for January 7th to be tonight. And what happens? What happens?

KAMALA HARRIS: So we will be ready, but just taking a step back… And thank you, Marilyn, for the gift that you give, your talent, your creativity. Thank you for being here. One of the things that I have realized in the course of our campaign is that more Americans than we may realize who voted for Trump before have decided January 6th was just a bridge too far.

When we reflect and think about what January 6th was, where the President of the United States, sitting in the Oval Office, incited a mob, a violent mob, to attack the United States Capitol such that 140 law enforcement officers were injured, some were killed, to try and upend a free and fair election where the American people voted, that was a bridge too far for a lot of people. And we have sadly now seen how far he could go. And I think there is absolutely no tolerance whatsoever for the vast majority of Americans for that.

And they’ve seen the lies. They understand, for example, almost every court case, I think every court case where he’s challenged an election, he lost. I’ve said on the debate stage, look, because he’s having a very difficult time obviously processing the fact that 81 million people fired him. So there is that, that it really was a bridge too far for so many people that they are not willing to repeat.

But the other piece of it is the lawyers are working. It’s very important that we all speak to our friends and our neighbors about misinformation and help them now see how it occurs, where it is occurring. It is important that we stand up for the integrity of poll workers and people who are working on election day. And that we also, and this is critically important, that we ask people to be alert about misinformation and we ask them, do not be afraid to vote.

Because I think there is also something quite insidious about these attacks on the electorate in these various forms that are intended to convince people that their vote won’t matter. And in that way, there’s a little bit of reverse psychology going on here. Let’s just make sure nobody falls for it. Your vote does matter. And we cannot let anyone ever take our power from us. We can never let anybody silence us.

And when we get those votes out, starting soon, early voting is already going to start, this week, I think, through November 5th. And let’s make sure everyone votes. And we are going to have a good election day. We’re going to fight for the integrity of the people’s voice and for our democracy.

And, you know, I’ll just mention earlier, a couple of folks talked about what this means in terms of the world. You know, Oprah is vice president. I’ve met over 150 world leaders, presidents, prime ministers, chancellors, and kings. And the thing about representing the United States of the America is when we walk in those rooms around the world, we have historically and traditionally been able to walk in those rooms, chin up, shoulders back, with the self-appointed and earned authority to talk about the importance of democracies.

KAMALA HARRIS: People around the world are watching right now. Because, you see, the thing about walking into a room and being a role model is people watch what you do to see if it lines up with what you say. And in that way, the consequences of this election are directly going to impact the American people and people around the world. That’s what we’re fighting for. And those are the stakes. And that’s why we’re going to win, because we know what we’re fighting for, because we know what we stand for.

OPRAH WINFREY: Thank you, Meryl. Thank you. So… Thank you, Meryl. What is on your heart to say to the American people as we have 47 days until November 5th? What’s on your heart? To say to particularly those people who are still undecided, or maybe indifferent, or on the fence still?

Kamala Harris’s Message to the American People

KAMALA HARRIS: We love our country. I love our country. I know we all do. That’s why everybody’s here right now. We love our country. We take pride in the privilege of being American. And this is a moment where we can and must come together as Americans, understanding we have so much more in common than what separates us.

Let’s come together with the character that we are so proud of about who we are, which is we are an optimistic people. We are an optimistic people. We are an optimistic people. Americans, by character, are people who have dreams and ambitions and aspirations. We believe in what is possible. We believe in what can be. And we believe in fighting for that. That’s how we came into being, because the people before us understood that one of the greatest expressions for the love of our country, one of the greatest expressions of patriotism is to fight for the ideals of who we are, which includes freedom to make decisions about your own body, freedom to be safe from gun violence, freedom to have access to the ballot box, freedom to be who you are and just be, to love who you love openly and with pride, freedom to just be.

And that’s who we are. We believe in all that. And so this is a moment where we stand knowing what we are fighting for. We’re not fighting against. It’s what we’re fighting for.

OPRAH WINFREY: Thank you. Thank you, Madam Vice President. Thank you. And I want to say, thank you, Madam Vice President. I also want to say, thank you, Joe Taika. Thank you, Joe Taika. Who started the gatherings on Zoom and all of the grassroots. Now, each of you listening tonight, you become your own grassroots organization to go forward and do something coming together for the largest Zoom call we’ve all ever had. Thank you so much.

Oprah’s Closing Message

OPRAH WINFREY: And I just want to say, I just want to say, for all of you watching who are still on the fence, you’re in the middle, you’re independent, as I am, or whether you just still don’t know what you’re going to do, this is the moment for all decent people, all caring people who want the best for yourself and you want the best for other people. This is the moment for people who are tired of all of the bickering and all of the name-calling, people who are exhausted by the craziness and the made-up stories and the conspiracies.

This is the moment. You want to get on with your life because you know that we can do better and that we deserve better. You know this. I know you know this. I know you feel this. I know this is what you’re saying amongst yourself. It’s in all the conversations that we’re having, that you’re having. And we’re better than this. We’re better. We’re better. And we want to create a world where our children will be safe in school again. And as my friend and mentor Maya Angelou always said, when you know better, you got to do better.

Thank you. So let’s do better and vote for Kamala Harris. Thank you to all of our special guests. Thank you for sharing your stories, for being here with Shanette, Vice President Harris. We thank you. We hope you keep fighting for us and the country we deserve to have. Thank you so much. Thank you.

To find out more about how you can register or where you can vote, go to IWillVote.com. Good night, everybody. Thank you on Zoom.

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