Billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey joined Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams at a campaign rally in Marietta Georgia. Winfrey, who took the stage to booming applause, said she wanted to come to Georgia to support Abrams because she saw how Abrams is "handling herself" amid an onslaught of "haters."
Watch the entire rally below:
The Congressional Black Caucus chairman is threatening a fight over House leadership if Democrats win the House.
In a move that could set off a nasty internal fight, the leader of the Congressional Black Caucus — a key voting bloc among House Democrats — is demanding that an African-American lawmaker hold one of the top two leadership posts if Democrats win the House on Election Day.
The demand by Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), the CBC's chairman, is seen as a potential threat to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland who have been slotted to return as speaker and House majority leader, respectively, if Democrats gain the majority on Nov. 6.
“Over the past couple of weeks, several of our colleagues have respectfully shared letters of intent expressing interest in various House Democratic Caucus leadership positions,” Richmond said in a “Dear Colleague” letter that went out Thursday. “It is within that context that I’d like to reiterate that if there is any change in our top leadership positions the Democratic Members of the CBC endorse African-American representation in at least one of the two top positions of elected House Democratic Caucus leadership.”
That means, according to Democratic sources, that the CBC would want one of their own to be speaker or majority leader.
[Black Caucus wants one of their own as speaker or majority leader
Media icon Oprah Winfrey will hit the campaign trail this week for Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
Winfrey will participate in two town hall events with Abrams -- one in Marietta and one in Decatur -- on Thursday to aide her campaign in what has become a highly competitive, closely watched race.
"Oprah Winfrey has inspired so many of us through the years with her unparalleled ability to form real connections and strengthen the bonds of family and community," Abrams said in a statement Wednesday. "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."
It's a rare political endorsement for Winfrey, who backed former President Barack Obama during the primaries in 2008 and lent her support to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election. On Tuesday, she appeared in a video with NBC News' Maria Shiver to urge people to vote, saying she's a political independent before adding, "people think I'm a Democrat."
Read more: Oprah to hit campaign trail for Stacey Abrams
A white man charged with shooting and killing two African-Americans at a Kroger supermarket in Kentucky last week had first tried to enter a predominantly African-American church, police say.
Gregory Bush, 51, was charged with killing Maurice Stallard, 69, and Vickie Lee Jones, 67, at the supermarket in Jeffersontown, Ky., a suburb of Louisville.
As more information about the Wednesday attack and its alleged perpetrator have emerged, there are indications that Bush chose his targets because of the color of their skin.
Federal investigators are looking into the fatal shootings as "potential civil rights violations such as hate crimes," Russell Coleman, the U.S. attorney for the Western district of Kentucky, said in a statement.
Bush allegedly walked into the Kroger, pulled a gun and shot Stallard in the back of the head, then shot him several more times. Then he went outside and killed Jones, who also died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to The Associated Press.
Louisville resident Ed Harrell told the Courier-Journal that as he crouched in the Kroger parking lot clutching his own revolver, the gunman walked by him and said, "Don't shoot me. I won't shoot you. Whites don't shoot whites."
Police say that just a few minutes before heading to the Kroger, Bush first tried to get into the First Baptist Church of Jeffersontown, a predominantly African-American church. Jeffersontown Police Chief Sam Rogers told reporters that surveillance video showed Bush yanking on the church doors. If Bush had come to the church an hour earlier that day, some 70 people would have been gathered there, and the door might have been unlocked, the Courier-Journal reported.
Read more: Killing Of 2 At Kentucky Supermarket Is Being Investigated As Hate Crime
Democratic candidate for Florida Governor Andrew Gillum took to Twitter to respond to Trump's ignorant remarks in which Trump referred to Gillum as a thief during a Fox News interview.
I heard @realDonaldTrump ran home to @FoxNews to lie about me. But as my grandmother told me — never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it. So ignore him and vote, Florida!
— Andrew Gillum (@AndrewGillum) October 30, 2018
