Oprah Winfrey cold calls Texas voters as early voting begins and 1st person’s enthusiasm leaves her speechless
TV mogul Oprah Winfrey recently cold called voters in Texas to encourage them to get to the polling booths for this year's election. The 66-year-old, who partnered with Democrat politician Beto O’Rourke’s Powered by People organization, surprised multiple voters through her calls and her first dial-out was a caller named Christian.
The caller left Winfrey nearly speechless and the latter shared the experience on Instagram on Tuesday, October 13. Although Christian was initially taken aback by the call and even thought he was a victim of an elaborate prank call, he later hit it off with the popular talk show host. Winfrey, in the clip, wasted no time in getting to the objective of her call when she asked Christian where he fell on a scale of 1 to 10 on how ready he was to begin the early voting process in Texas, which begins Wednesday, October 14.
However, Winfrey soon learned that she did not even need her talking points because Christain was very enthusiastic about early voting and had prepared for it weeks ahead. He declared: "I’m an 11," and added that he and his partner would be up early to hit the polls for the first day of early voting in Texas. Christian continued that considering the scope of this year's election, he felt that it was a "must" to not only cast an early ballot but to ensure that people had an opportunity to make their voices heard. Christian added that he would even offer to give their friends a ride to the polling stations if they required.
“You're my first call and you're already an 11!” Oprah exclaimed. “I don't know what to say about that! That's fantastic."
In her Instagram post, the media mogul wrote in the caption that since she could not do door-knocking this election because of the coronavirus pandemic, she would be reaching out to the voters through phone calls to convey her message to them. She wrote: "Since I can’t go knocking on people’s doors this election, I spent today talking with @betoorourke and calling Texas voters to make sure they have a voting plan. So get ready like Christian because early voting starts TOMORROW 10/13 for the Lone Star State! Visit poweredxpeople.org to find your nearest polling place."
Texas Democrat and former 2020 presidential candidate, O’Rourke, also tweeted about the calls, saying they made 2,942,597 calls to Texas voters on Tuesday, October 13, to urge them to go vote. He tweeted, writing: "Folks, we made 2,942,597 calls to Texas voters today! All thanks to the thousands of volunteers who stepped up and the special guests who helped us: @WillieNelson @Oprah @BernieSanders @JulianCastro @staceyabrams @AndrewYang Texas: early vote starts tomorrow, let’s get after it!"
The US presidential elections, which is set to be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, will be a contest against the Trump-Pence campaign and the Biden-Harris campaign. The winner of the 59th US presidential election will then be inaugurated on January 20, 2021. The election comes amid turbulent times with the novel coronavirus pandemic and George Floyd anti-racism protests underway across the country.