Vice President Kamala Harris sat down with Oprah Winfrey on Thursday to discuss her plans for the economy, abortion rights and gun control, The Detroit News reported.
The 90-minute event just outside Detroit, Michigan, opened with the renowned television personality telling the audience she was there "because I care deeply about the future of our country." The conversation touched on a range of issues, including poverty and struggles to attain the "American dream," which Harris said has been "elusive" for many.
The event, before a live audience of about 400 people, in addition to thousands who tuned in virtually, comes at a critical time in the race, with the vice president and her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, locked in a virtual dead-heat with just a few weeks to go before the November election.
“My approach is about lifting you up," Harris told Winfrey. Trump, by contrast, "would be about actually weakening our economy.”
The event invited audience participation and featured celebrity cameos such as Julia Roberts and Chris Rock. One young woman expressed concerns with the cost of living, saying: “Everything is so expensive"; a couple described how they had to move in with their parents to save for a home. The Democratic nominee responded by highlighting her plan to provide first-time home buyers with $25,000 in down-payment assistance, The Washington Post reported.
When discussing gun violence, Harris said that the country needs to muster up the “courage to act." The vice president, who has openly talked about being a gun owner herself, also quipped that any intruders who broke into her home are “getting shot." She added that she’s “not trying to take everyone’s guns away," but wishes to ban the sale of assault weapons, which are “literally designed to be a tool of war.”
“It has no place on the streets of a civil society,” she told Winfrey. “It’s designed to kill a lot of human beings quickly.”
When the topic turned to reproductive rights, a Kentucky woman, Hadley Duvall, drew a standing ovation for sharing her story of how her stepfather raped her when she was 12 years old. She was forced to go through a pregnancy that ended in miscarriage, an experience she shares in a recent ad for the Harris campaign.
"Hadley, you've been so remarkable in telling your story," Harris told the 22-year-old, pledging to restore the national right to an abortion.
