>> and i think the effects of the midterm election depending on whether it switches from republican house to a democratic house, will affect me and the members of my generation significantly. and i'm really proud to see all of the -- not just members of my generation, but all young people in general stepping up and running for offices, especially here in new hampshire. there's so many of us. >> voices from the states, part of c-span's 50 capitals tour. oprah winfrey was at a campaign event in georgia in support of stacy abrams, the democratic candidate for governor of the state. this is held at the cobb county civic center in marietta, georgia.

[cheers and applause] >> hello georgia! hello georgia! [cheers] >> hello, georgia! [cheers] >> i just want to say y'all have been on my mind. [cheers] >> oh, yeah! georgia, you've been on my mind. and here's why, you know, i was just sitting at home in california, minding my own business -- [laughter] >> -- but i could not stop thinking about what's going on down here. [cheers] >> you all are on the precipice, on the very precipice of a historical and historical

election. [cheers] >> and so this is what i came to tell you, i'm an independent woman. i have earned the right to do exactly what i want to do. [cheers and applause] >> i have earned the right to do what i want to do when i want to do it. [cheers] >> i have earned the right to think for myself. [cheers] >> and to vote for myself. [cheers] and that's why i am a registered independent because i don't want any party, and i don't want any kind of partisan influence telling me what decisions i get

to make for myself. so i wanted to just say to you, nobody paid for me to come here. [cheers and applause]

id, girl, let me pull over to the side of the road. [laughter] [applause] oprah: that is a good thing. you should not be talking on your cell phone when you are driving. and i told her i wanted to come to georgia and lend my support. she said, that would be all right. that would be just fine. i told her, here's why i want to come. i've been reading about you. i've been reading about you in the atlanta journal, in "time magazine, in the "new york times," and i've been watching you and seeing how you handle yourself.

you in theatching midst of the onslaught of haters and -- and vitriol >> i've been watching you, and you just keep coming, keep coming, keep coming on. you keep coming on. and not only do you keep coming on, you keep standing. you keep standing strong for the values that matter to me and the values that matter to georgians all over this state. [cheers and applause] >> keep it coming on. so i'm here today because stacey abrams cares about the things that matter. she cares about medicaid expansion. she cares about keeping families together. [cheers and applause] >> she cares about environmental

protection for our children so that they will have clean water and won't be wearing oxygen masks ten years from now. she cares about common sense gun control. [cheers and applause] she doesn't want to take the guns from the people. this is georgia. we know people want to hunt in georgia. but since when have we lost common sense for common sense? [cheers and applause] >> she wants common sense gun control. she cares about affordable housing and she cares about criminal justice reform. she protects our communities and creating jobs. the reason i'm a registered independent is because i believe that everybody should have the right to vote their values and vote your conscience regardless of the party. and i tell you, i have voted

republic republican. and i have voted democrat. each time i voted i voted for the people that i felt represented my values. stacey abrams' values are in alignment with the consciousness of which our democracy has been founded. the very foundation of our democracy is to think about other people, to live a life in service to others. [applause] >> democracy is not just about our individual rights and concerns and our individual protections. but rather, it lives and thrives in making sure that everybody is lifted by the community, that everybody is -- because the baseline is not just what i want or what i need or what's going to fill my pocketbook, but recognizing that what is good for everybody is good for us.

[cheers and applause] >> it's good for us. stacey abrams gets that. she gets that. she understands and she will serve the underserved of the state of georgia. [cheers and applause] >> here's the truth. all of us have been created equal, but you have sense to know that everybody is not treated equally. the reality is we see injustices big and small all around us every single day of our lives and i know it is easy for a lot of people to feel that you have no power against those injustices. but this is what i'm here to tell you, this land was made for you and me.

[cheers and applause] >> this land was made for you and me. that's not just a song. that's the truth. and i will tell you, i will tell you, that we are not powerless. every single one of us, every single one of us has the same power at the polls. and every single one of us has something that if done in number too big to tamper with -- [cheers and applause] >> cannot be suppressed and cannot be denied. as our civil rights predecessors used to say, we shall not be -- [cheers] >> every single one of us has the same power at the polls. we have the ability to go into a tiny booth. in my neighborhood it is not

even a booth. it is a little stand. every one of us regardless of the color of our skin, it doesn't matter when you're there at the polls. where the god we pray to, it doesn't matter who we choose to love, whether or not we graduated high school or went to college or how much money you have in the bank or whether or not you have a preexisting condition or whether you're elderly or whether you're not, whether you're developmentally disabled, doesn't matter at the polls, we are all equal in power. [cheers and applause] so on november 6th, you all are here. you already got it. you got it. your job is to go out and let everybody else know how to get it. that you make your voice heard on november 6th. we have this incredible opportunity to make history. we have our inalienable right to

vote because the one place where we're all equal. where is it? it's at the polls. i'm here today because i know you know that but i just came to remind you of the power. i'm here because i want you to remind others of the power. and i want to make it very clear to all the press, everybody, i'm not here because i'm making some grandstand because i'm thinking about running myself. i don't want to run. okay? i'm not trying to test any waters. don't want to go in those watters. -- don't want to go in those waters. i'm here today because of stacey abrams. [cheers] >> and i'm here today because of the men and because of the women

who were lynched, who were humiliated, who were discriminated against, who were suppressed, who were repressed and oppressed for the rights for the equality at the polls, and i want you to know that their blood has seeped into my dna and i refuse to let their sacrifices be in vain. [cheers and applause] >> i refuse! [cheers and applause] >> and i'm here today -- [cheers and applause] >> so let nobody -- [cheers and applause] >> you can't let their sacrifices be in vain. i'm here today because like a lot of young people, i didn't take voting seriously until around my mid 20s. around my mid 20s, i had the privilege of hearing reverend

otis moss jr. who is a preacher -- you all know him? preacher in cleveland, ohio. and i heard him tell the story of his father, of otis moss sr. who right here in georgia's troupe county, got up in the morning and put on his only suit and his best tie, and he walked 6 miles to the voting poll location he was told to go to in la grange, and when he got there, after walking 6 miles, in his good suit and tie, they said boy, you at the wrong place. you're at the wrong place. you need to go over to mountville. so he walked another 6 miles to mountville, and when he got there, they said boy, you at the wrong place. you need to go to the rosemont school. and i picture him walking from dawn to dusk, in his suit, his

feet tired, getting to the rosemont school, and they boy you too late. the polls are closed. and he never had a chance to vote. by the time the next election came around, he had died. so when i go to the polls, and i cast my ballot, i cast it for a man i never knew. i cast it for otis moss sr. who walked 18 miles one day just for the chance to vote. [cheers and applause] >> and when i go into the polls, i cast the vote for my grandmother hattie mae lee who died in 1963 before the voting rights act of 1965 and never had a chance to vote. i vote for her. [cheers and applause] >> and when i stand in the polls, i do what maya angelo

says i come as one but i stand as 10,000. [cheers and applause] >> for all those who paved the way that we might have the right to vote. and for anybody here who has an ancestor who didn't have the right to vote, and you are choosing not to vote, wherever you are in this state, in this country, you are dishonoring your family. [applause] >> you are disrespecting and disregarding their legacy, their suffering and their dreams when you don't vote. so honor your legacy. honor your legacy. honor your right to citizenship in this which is the greatest country in the world, the greatest country in the world, and the right to vote is like,

like the crown we all get to wear. maya used to say baby your crown has been paid for so put it on your head and wear it. [cheers and applause] >> so your crown's been paid for. the right to vote is your crown. so this is a tight race here in georgia. this is tight. and there are tight races all over this country that depend on all of us giving honor to our greatest democratic right and privilege. so let your vote make a difference. let your vote count. let your vote speak for you. if you're a woman, let me just talk to the women for a minute. [cheers] >> if you're a woman, you need to recognize it hasn't even been 100 years since we even had the right to vote, since we were considered a piece of property. you couldn't even own a piece of property. i love land so much and i think boy if i was born at the turn of

the 20th century, i wouldn't even have the right to own the land without your father or your husband saying it was so. you didn't have the right to even take care of yourself. so you didn't have a voice, and now we do. we as women people need to stand united and vote our values. vote your values. vote your conscience. all this noise, all the noise, you just can't get away from it. you turn on the v -- you turn on the tv, so much noise and crazy talk. all the vitriol and the ads. you know what? they are designed to confuse and confound you with fear. that's what they've done. they're designed to confound you with fear. they're not designed for people with discernment, women people, we have discernment. [cheers and applause] >> and when you know the right

thing, and you can feel it, you can feel what is the right thing to do, you can't be influenced by propaganda and fear. so now is the time for discernment, and only when we unite as sisters, and i don't mean just sisters, i mean sisters, black sisters, brown sisters, white sisters, asian sisters, lgbtq sisters -- [cheers] >> when we all unite, i know for sure a change is going to come. so i'm here today to support a change maker. [cheers and applause] >> she's a woman who believed

that she could change the state of georgia. she is so dynamic. she's so inspired and inspiring. she's bold. she's bold. bold. and bodacious. [cheers] >> she's a georgia warrior woman. ladies and gentlemen, stacey abrams! [cheers and applause] ♪ >> stacey! stacey! stacey! stacey! stacey! stacey!

>> thank you guys so much. >> and you get a vote! and you get a vote! >> all right, spread the word! [cheers and applause] >> great to be here with you. >> everybody gets to vote! >> everybody gets to vote! [cheers] >> all right. we're going to talk for a few minutes and then take a couple questions from you all. could you have ever imagined that two girls from mississippi with the kind of up bringing that we've had would be sitting on this stage? [cheers] >> not at all. i'm still not quite sure i'm sitting here. i'm having a little bit of out of body experience. but it is awesome.

>> i love that you had to pull to the side of the road. i love that. i'm intrigued by your story. so many people are intrigued by your story. but more intrigued that you have the idea to dare to take this on. i find in my own experience, when something major is happening, there's something inside you that feels like it's a calling. it's more than just oh i just want to have a career or i just want to do that. i want to know how that manifested inside you that you knew that for such a time as this, you were called to this moment. >> i was raised by robert and carolyn abrams. they are originally from hattiesburg, mississippi. they are right here today. right here. >> sitting right here. >> stand up! stand up! [cheers] >> they used to make us go and

volunteer which made me a little irritated because i'm like we're poor too. why are we volunteering? [laughter] >> and my mother's way of saying it was -- how little we had there were more people with less. your job is to serve that person. >> yeah. >> my dad was more succinct. he was like having nothing is no excuse for doing nothing. [applause] >> it instilled in me two things. one i believe poverty is immoral. i think it robs us of our humanity -- humanity, opportunity and i believe it is solvable. i realized when i was in the legislature, that the person who sits in the governor's office decides healthcare, the jobs, that stand your ground was not created by the president. it was created by the governor of florida th.

that the erosion of the social safety net did not happen in 94. it happened in the early 90s with the governor of wisconsin. and jim crow never had a federal law. it was all state that stopped otis moss from being able to cast a vote. so for me the calling is that this was the moment, 2018 is our time because we can't wait any longer. [cheers and applause] >> do you think that there's a basic misunderstanding in our culture about midterms and what the role of state representatives and governors do that causes people to not get out? >> we spend a lot of money -- billions of dollars are spent telling us who the president is, what the president does, but also for communities that have been vulnerable. it's been federal law that's changed our lives, the equal

rights opportunities, the civil rights amendment, if you're a person of color, if you're a woman, often salvation came from the federal government. what we forget is that they were often solving state-created problems. and that if you could engineer the problem at the state level, you can engineer the solution at the state level. [applause] >> we all know this, anybody who runs their own business, whether it's a cupcake shop or whether you're a teacher -- funeral home -- [laughter] >> we need you. anybody knows any kind of business you're running that the key to getting anything done is leadership. so how has your everything that is -- because i always believe everything that has happened in your life prepares you for this moment right now. how has everything that's happened to you informed how you

will lead this diverse state, with all of the communities and all of the people? >> i recently told a story of my first major loss. i applied for a scholarship, everyone said if i was the first black woman to win from mississippi i would be a shoo-in at the national level. i won in mississippi. i did not win the scholarship, and that was a lofty prize, but it devastated me because i started to think i wasn't smart enough, i wasn't good enough. i decided not to take advantage of certain opportunities, but the more i thought about it, the more i realized losing prepares you for success. [applause] >> so standing for this office, being the first black woman to try for this job, it's not a function -- i think i'm going to win, but -- [cheers and applause]

>> but my point is, leadership is about being willing to take the risk, not knowing if you will g et the reward. being able to work across the aisle, work with republicans in the house, i appreciated what you said about being an independent. my job was leading democrats but sometimes it meant leading them to work with republicans they didn't like, because we may have different ways of getting there, but i have to believe we fundamentally want the best for everyone. it was about as a business owner. when you've lost a business, you understand how important access to capital is. when you go to a bank and they tell you no and can't give you a good reason, you realize it may not be something -- it may be something that you can't change. i'm going to be black till i die. i'm going to be a woman till i die. and so it wasn't about changing who i am. it was about figuring out how could i leverage that experience into a solution for others. so i think you are absolutely right. leadership comes from taking those mistakes and those

failures, but also those barriers that you have overcome and turning them into solutions for other people. >> do you think that even in these -- even in these divisive times, i mean, i was sharing with the audience that i was in my hotel room for just ten minutes and the tv was on, and the vitriol coming from the ads, the attacks, the fear-based trying to motivate people out of fear is so bad right now. how can you bridge that? how can you make a difference? >> i spent sunday evening attempt -- at temple emmanuel in dunwoody mourning with jewish families who were connected to the tree of life synagogue in pittsburgh. as i sat there, the rabbi who had no reason to include me, brought me up to light one of the candles of mourning. and to share words and part of

getting beyond divisiveness is the willingness to acknowledge difference but not let those differences change who we are. i'm not a different person. i've been running the same campaign. i've been the same person since june 2017 because -- [applause] >> i've been the same person because you can't ask people to trust who you are or to follow you into hard times if they don't know who they are following. and part of getting past divisiveness is being authentically yourself. and people may not like that. i'm fairly certain half of georgia is not going to pick me. i just need 50% plus one of them to do so. [applause] >> but my job is going to be to serve all of them. and that's why i went to forsyth county. i went to dade county, but i've also been to pockets of atlanta that don't believe that anybody sees them either because divisiveness is not always based

on race or gender or sexual orientation. sometimes it is based on the thinking that the haves don't carry about the have nots. the way you knit people together is actually showing up. >> there's nothing that happens in your life that doesn't prepare for any moment that you are experiencing at any given time. you know, i was wondering how as you were talking about you didn't get the scholarship and having student loans and student debt, first of all, it is amazing we get to live in a country where you can still be paying your student loans and run for governor. so i would like to know -- i would like to know -- i think this is actually an important question. what has debt taught you? [laughter] >> number one, you don't have to

walk away from your responsibilities. debt does not mean you are a bad person. it doesn't mean that you aren't responsible. it doesn't mean you're not a good person. part of what i've had to learn to do is to manage not only my expectations of myself, but also the limits i was putting on myself because there are those who told me i could not run because i had debt. there were those who told me that because i'm on a payment plan with the irs, i could not run for governor. and number one, you were kind enough to call me bold. they considered it a very bold thing to do, but part of it was i know how to manage a budget. when you don't have enough and you've got to do a lot, you learn how to manage a budget. [applause] >> number two, i know how to meet my obligations. i don't have to -- i've never -- no one has had to sue me to get their money back. they will always -- [cheers and applause] >> but part of that is -- part

of what debt teaches you is that other people have needs too. and part of your responsibility is that you can't put your needs in front of anyone else's. you might have to line them upside by side and one moves a little faster, but you don't get to -- [inaudible] -- someone else's desires to meet your own. i consider it a privilege, i get to help my parents. i get to help my niece. i get to help my grandmother. when my siblings have called on me or when i have had to call on them, we have been able to stand together, and all of us have gone into some debt to do it, but because we've gone into together, we are lifted up together. and think i that's what that teaches you. [applause] >> i know that you speak a lot about your relationship to faith, and i was wondering has your faith been tested during this campaign? [laughter] >> have you said jesus, where are you? >> my parents are pastors.

they have had to pray for me. sometimes i have to remind myself that you don't say certain things when you believe in god. but yeah, i mean, look, when you know who you are and you know whose you are, it is hard to have someone tell a lie about you. it is difficult to meet meanness with kindness. it is hard to remind yourself that you have to think about the whole bible and not just the verses that make you happy in that moment. [applause] >> and so, you know, i do. i lean on the teachings. but also my parents taught me that faith is more than words. it is deed. it is how you behave and not how you behave when it is easy. it is how you behave when it is hard, when no one is watching, when you can do something to your opponent that would move you ahead, but you know it would scar your spirit. that's the moment where faith is truly tested, and i've done my

level best to never fail that test. [cheers and applause] >> a couple questions from the audience? i don't know who is in charge of that. you are. okay. >> hi. my name is melissa. and this question is for stacey. i wanted to know what your plans are for making sure that our schools finally have resources that they need so our kids can get a quality education. our schools are so underfunded, and i'm very concerned about it. thank you. >> thank you. melissa? >> yes. >> thank you. so in the state of georgia, in 16 years, the republicans have managed to fully fund education one time. and conveniently, it was an election year, this year. but here's the thing, we have to change our expectations of our leaders. you don't have to raise taxes to raise expectations. what you do have to do is

recognize that education, when the state is responsible, it's not responsible for education with a small e. it is responsible for public education, that is our job. [applause] >> and i talk about it from cradle to career, investing in early childhood learning because you shouldn't go into debt taking care of a 2-year-old. it's about making sure that parents can afford it, but also that there are opportunities available. we have some counties where there is no opportunity for child care, where parents are basically going off to shift work leaving their child with someone that they met a couple of days ago and they hope things are okay when they get home but know if they don't go, there e won't be a home for them to come home. it is also paying our educators a competitive wage. [applause] >> i use educators, i mean our teachers but also the para professionals, school bus drivers, our cafeteria workers.

[applause] >> lastly it is making sure that we understand that a child who comes to school hungry on monday because they last ate on friday cannot learn with the best educator. [applause] >> and so we have to have a comprehensive approach to education, wrap around services where we educate the whole child and marietta is doing an extraordinary job of that, understanding mental health services for children who are -- who have challenges early that become consequences later, that become a drug addiction because they didn't get the support they needed from mental health disorders like bipolar disorder or early on set schizophrenia. we make sure that everyone in our school system is treated like the humans and the people that they are. [applause] :: charge/ ? we have got one. >> hello.

this question is for my sister stacey. it says, one of the biggest things i worry about here is health care. and hospitals keep closing in small towns. and doctors and nurses are being moved out. a a lot of women die here during childbirth. >> during childbirth. what can we do to fix this? i'm sister robin. >> thank you. so let's understand, georgia has the highest maternal mortality rate in thehe nation. more women die within a year of giving childbirth in georgia than any other state. because we don't have access to doctors. we have 79 counties that do not have an ob/gyn. we haven. 64 counties without a pediatrician. we have women who give birth, and the first time they see a doctor is at the hospital. and that's assuming they can get there because there are nine counties without a single hospital at all. sorry, there are nine counties without doctors. not hospitals, without doctors.

and so georgia has 159 counties. we have a state-based health care finance system. which means until we bring in enough money to provide coverage to everyone, they will not be served. so if you live in a rural county, if we've lost access to a hospital, that means you could die from a stroke, because it takes you more than an hour to get to a doctor. the republican solution has been nothing. it has been absolutely nothing. because the problem is you cannot solve a $1.7 billion problem with a $60 million solution. but if we expand medicaid in the state of georgia -- [cheers and applause] the if we expand medicaid, we do the three things. number one, we provide access to health insurance for half a million georgians including 25,000 veterans and their spouses who are denied access because they are considered too wealthy for regular insurance

but too poor for medicaid. it's about making sure that people not only in rural communities, but we have working families, people who are working full-time jobs, but they work 39 hours heree and 38 hours there, and they don't qualify for benefits, but they're considered too wealthyhy in georgia to be covered by health care. [applause] we can create 56,000 jobs in georgia, and we can do mental health care and substance abuse treatment in the state of georgia. [applause] right now number one provider of mental health care and substance abuse in georgia is not our hospitals, it'sta our prison system. in georgia you are more likely to be treated in prison, which means we are incarcerating you for being sick. and once you're incarcerated, you can't get a job, you can't get housing. and when you get out of jail, you're not entitled to health care in georgia until we expand medicaid. so for us to pay doctors to reimburse nurses, to create clinics, to save rural hospitals, to make certain that

families are actually productive and healthyhy instead of gettin, you know, getting that foreman to take care of his health, we haveve to expand medicaid in the state of georgia immediately. [cheers and applause] >> are you already thinking about what you will prioritize when elected, like, what will be first things you dosome. >> oh, yes, i have. [laughter] medicaid expansion is number one on my list. [cheers and applause] running for lieutenant governor, sarah and i are -- [cheers and applause] sarah, stand up. [cheers and applause] sarah is a business owner who has a company that has grown from 100 employees to 3500 employees. every single one has health care. [cheers and applause]

every single one. she also has a todaycare. so what she has been able to do while growing her company is something georgia can do while growing its state. if we expand medicaid, we stabilize rural communities, we allow rural communities to get jobs because you know no one's bringing a company to a place where you can't get a doctor. but we can also stabilize the economies of our communities. and half a million georgians suddenly won't have to worry aboutt missing work because they have a cold or, worse, coming to work withk that cold so everyboy else gets sick. and then after that i've got, i've got work on education, we've got to get stuff done on transit. i know cobb county, you guys have a few issues with transit. [applause] but, yeah, i'm excited because i know that the first 100 days sets the tone. but what we can do to stabilize, reorient and then move the state forward growing, building on a legacy -- the republicans haven't been all bad. governor diehl and i have worked together on criminal justice

reform, on transportation, on education, on kinship care, grandparents and others raising children. we can build on that legacy, but we have to know we can't leave anybody else behind, and georgia's left too many people behind, and that's why we've got to do this immediately and hard. [applause] >> okay. you know i love books, and i was so fascinated when i heard you'd been writing under a pseudonym -- [cheers and applause] i want to know what does -- is that how you calm down? is that how you relax? is that what you -- is that your getaway space, writing? >> no, i'm not saying this because you're sitting here, i wrote it down before so people can tell you i'm telling the truth. when i was in college, i had a list -- i broke up with this boy. he was really mean to me -- [laughter] so i made a list of all the things i was going to do to prove to him that he made the worst mistake ofst his life. [cheers and applause] >> i had one of those two.

>> i did mine on lotus 123, it was a spread sheet. [laughter] i had dates, accomplishments, one was to bee kind of like youa little bit -- [laughter] but one was i was going to be a best selling novelist. and sove in law school instead f going to all my classes, i wrote my first romance novel called rooms of engagement, and -- rules of engagement. and then they bought it. i started writing more and more. i i moved into leadership sort f memoir books, nonfiction recently. and many between i wrote a book called, i wrote are an essay on the operational business of unrelated business income tax exemption. i think my father's only person outside of my law school who read it. [laughter] but, yes, i love writing. writing makes me happy. my mom was a librarian before she became -- [applause] before she became a pastor. so before my mom and dad became pastors, my mom was a librarian, and shes, was -- we would sleepn the stacks. we literally grew up around

books.we i love reading, i love writing, i lo storytelling. and it is, it's cathartic. plus, i get to kill a lot of people -- i write romantic suspense -- [laughter] those who survive get to fall in love. [laughter] [applause] >> what are you doing to sustain yourself? because this is grueling. what do to you do? do you have a favorite tv show? >> i watch an inodd nate amount of television. >> you do? >> i do. people don't believe it's possible. i watch a lot of tv. [laughter] so right now i'm watching the good place, i'm watching blackish -- [applause] i watch " guy's grocery games on food channel. there is a show called greenleaf, i love -- [cheers and applause] i watch reruns of star trek voyager, leverage -- >> okay. >> i watch a lot of tv. >> that surprises me, that you have the time.e. >> i don't sleep a lot, so i watch a lot of tv.

>> okay. so what are you going to do november 7th? >> hopefully, i will be -- >> [inaudible] >> hopefully, hopefully i will finish. >> [inaudible] >> yes. well, i've got to wait until i get into office. but, no, i mean, look, i'm hopefully going to spend the morning on morning shows telling everyone how wonderful it was to win this election. [cheers i and applause] and then i'm going to finish a book, my sisters and brothers and i have a book that we do together, so i've got to read the book, because i think the next meeting is in november, so i have to get that done. [laughter] and then i'm going to watch tv, and i'm going to take a nap. [laughter] [cheers and applause] >> i have three. the intuitionist by colson whitehead which is beautiful, and he loves language. i really love -- >> i loved his underground railroad. i love the book --

[inaudible] >> don't know that. >> he's a japanese writer who writes really sort of fantastical stories. and then my favorite romance novel is honest illusions by nora roberts. >> wow. wow. what's the last meal you cooked? >> last meal i cooked i made myself risotto with peppers and sausage and crusted chicken romano. so chicken breast with parmesan and romano cheese. [applause] i like to cook. >> well, okay then. [laughter] okay then. >> can i do something? >> yeah. >> can i ask you a question? >> please. [cheers and applause] i'm ready. >> ms. winfrey -- [laughter] so you talked about why you vote and why you're here. can you talk about the moment where you were most afraid and

how that transformed how you think about the future? [laughter] >> easier to answer about a tv show, but okay. [laughter] the the momenttv i was most afrd was when i had ended the oprah show after 25 years. i made that decision myself and was stepping into building a network, and i had every media outlet this the world saying i should have kept my day job. and i, you know, it's hard not to hear all the negative stuff and not let yourself be impacted by it. and i had a come to jesus meeting with myself -- [laughter] outside under my oaks. and you know that thing where you, where you literally pray i surrender, i surrender, i surrender all and give it to

jesus, and i said help, you know, please help me see whatever it is i'm supposed to be seeing. and i changed the paradigm of what people were telling me was a struggle and turn thed it into an opportunity. -- turned it into an opportunity. that's what i was able to do. [applause] so we know that everybody in this audience is going to -- who has already prevoted? [cheers and applause] so now everybody in here is going to vote or has prevoted. what can we do to support you in the next four days? what do we need to do? >> volunteer. volunteer hard. [cheers and applause]e] so you all are here because you're paying attention, but you all know someone, you all know five people who do not believe that this election matters. and it's not because they're apathetic, i hate when people say that.

it's not apathy. it's also that they don't know because no one's ever bothered to tell them how the dots connect. if youou care about education, u need to tell a woman that you know or a man that you know that their special needs child will get a better education under a governort abrams who believes n investing in special needs education. [applause] but i need every one of you to find five people every single day between now and election day and get them to vote. i need you to call people you don't like -- [laughter] call people you're mad at, call people you broke up with. i need you to the, number one, i need you to volunteer by calling. i need you to knock doors. we have toby knock doors. [applause] oprah winfrey knocked doors today. [cheers and applause] >> you should have seen me, i had my little clipboard, honey -- [laughter] i was knocking on some doors. >> there you go. [laughter] and so the if you will text the

words blue ga to is it 87 -- no 97779. 9, three 7s and a 9. if you will text the word bluega to 97779, we will tell you about all the volunteer opportunities. this is going to be a razor close election, and we do not want a runoff. that means, that means i need you all to get five people every single day. if you want to do ten a day, go for that. but we have got to turn out in this election. we will win this. and if you don't believe me, believe my point. he said if every eligible voter in the state of georgia votes, he will not win. i willy win. [cheers and applause] >> thank you very much! stacy abrams! [cheers and applause]

thanks, everybody. [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> which party will control the house and senate? watch c-span's live election night coverage starting tuesday at 8 p.m. eastern as results come in from house, senate and governor races around the country. hear victory and concession speeches from the candidates. then wednesday morning at 7 a.m. eastern, we'll get your reaction to the election taking your phone calls live during "washington journal." c-span, your primary source for campaign 2018. >> and there are four days until the midterm elections. evening president trump and vice president pence will be in indianapolis for a campaign rally for republican candidates. live at 7:15 p.m. eastern on c-span. your primary source for campaign 2018. and here on c-span2, former

white house chief strategist steve bannon and atlantic senior editor david fromm will debate the rise of populism globally. you can watch the debate live from toronto at 7 p.m. eastern. >> new york times best selling author jodi picoult is our guest on in depth fiction edition, our live call-in program on sunday at noon eastern. her most recent book is "a spark of light." other books include small great things, the storyteller, lone wolf, plus 20 more novellings. she's also written five issues of wonder woman comic book series for dc comics. watch in depth fiction edition live sunday from noon to 3 p.m. eastern, and be sure to watch in depth fiction edition next month when author brad meltzer will be our guest on booktv on c-span2. >> sunday on "q&a," --

>> seven years ago the people of the united states set out upon what they thought was a great liberal campaign. somewhere along the line we lost the objective. >> two-time pulitzer prize-winning author david levering lewis on his biography of presidential candidate wendell wilkie. >> here was an internationalist, here was a great civil libertarian, here was a man with civil rights convictions that would have matched, say, an obama perhaps. here was a man who was a liberal and at the same time accessible to the role of government in economy but at, only a great degree. i thought all the things about him were appealing, and his honesty. there is a part in the book where we have roosevelt asking

willkie to consider being his vice president when he's going to overthrow henry wallace and he wants somebody new. typical fdr. and willkie says no. >> sunday night at eight eastern on "q&a" on c-span. >> we continue our conversation with a look at florida with susan mac man us in who is a political -- macmanus joining us this morning from tampa. good morning to you. >> guest: good morning. >> host: well, let's begin with how the florida voters break down by party. explain the breakdown and what impact that could have. >> guest: well, to put it mildly, we're pretty much a tie thed state. we have the -- tied state. we have the closest gap between democrats and republicans ever in the state's history. but right now 37% registered democrats, 35%