The two friends, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely, talked in the wake of Oprah Winfrey’s extraordinary speech at the Golden Globes Sunday night, which spurred chatter about a 2020 run. Some of Winfrey’s confidants have been privately urging her to run, the sources said. One of the sources said these conversations date back several months. The person emphasized that Winfrey has not made up her mind about running. A representative for Winfrey has not responded to requests for comment. The Democratic race for president won’t officially begin until after the 2018 midterms, but many potential candidates are already jostling for position and making trips to Iowa. “President Winfrey” was the talk of the entertainment world after Winfrey accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes. And the “Oprah for president?” possibility was a top story on morning TV. The touchstone of her speech was the #MeToo movement. But her hopeful
message — “A new day is on the horizon” — could have doubled as a campaign rallying cry. Many liberal-leaning celebrities and viewers certainly heard it that way. And that may have been exactly what Winfrey wanted. As some political strategists have pointed out in the past year, her fame and wealth could make her a formidable Democratic Party candidate. But insiders have their doubts too: Would Americans really choose a TV star as president twice in a row? Winfrey has deflected questions about a presidential run in the past, but she has also acknowledged that President Trump’s election upended assumptions about how to pursue political office. After the speech, Winfrey’s longtime partner Stedman Graham was quoted saying a run is a possibility.
“It’s up to the people,” Graham told a Los Angeles Times reporter. “She would absolutely do it.”
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