The Oprah effect? Dem candidate gets star power in Georgia governor race

As part of the last-ditch effort to get out the Democratic vote and turn Georgia blue, television star and media mogul Oprah Winfrey plans to do some door-knocking for gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

“I am honored to have Oprah join me for uplifting and honest conversations with voters about the clear choice before us in this election and the boundless potential of Georgians,” reads a statement from Abrams to BuzzFeed News.

Abrams, who is looking to take over the seat currently held by GOP Governor Nathan Deal, has come under fire recently for comments that opponents say disparaged agriculture and hospitality workers, which are big businesses in the state she wants to run. She also is a proponent of banning AR-15s, though she won’t say whether or not she’s on board with confiscating the rifles, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

Normally, celebrity support to boost a Democrat’s chances in a typically red state would elicit a few chuckles from those who know exactly how far star power actually goes outside deep-blue liberal strongholds. But polling for the race has been showing a statistical dead heat for a while now, and we’ll just have to see if the Oprah effect will or will not be a thing when the dust settles in Georgia.

And let’s be real for a moment: You have to wonder if Oprah has thought through the public health consequences of this effort. If she shows up on doorsteps unannounced, her sheer star power might cause a few excitement-driven heart problems.

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