Sources: Oprah Winfrey 'actively thinking' about running for president
Oprah Winfrey is "actively thinking" about running for president, two of her close friends told CNN Monday.
The two friends, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely, talked in the wake of 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 did not immediately respond to a request 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?
For now, it's all just talk. But her fans demonstrated a lot of wishful thinking on Twitter and Facebook after her speech
