One of the most talked about moments of Sunday’s Golden Globes ceremony was Oprah Winfrey’s acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille award, striking a chord with so many viewers that #OprahForPresident and #Oprah2020 suddenly became a thing on social media.
The idea of an Oprah presidency quickly evolved beyond social media fan fodder, though, when “two friends” told CNN Winfrey was “seriously considering” it. President Donald Trump was already telling media that he could beat her in 2020, while the Washington Post started compiling a list of the biggest challenges she would have to overcome as a candidate.
Whether this is a serious reality or not, one woman in New Jersey, 30-year-old Anastasia Khramova, was so inspired by Winfrey’s Golden Globes speech that she started an online petition in her community in East Windsor, Mercer County, first sending the Care2 page to a few of her friends.
Two days later and the petition already surpassed its initial goal of 6,000 signatures, now racking in supporters from all over North America and beyond.
"So many people have been inspired by Oprah over many years," the petition reads. "Her Golden Globes speech as she received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement was a passionate call for justice and showed she has the moral integrity to make a serious presidential run."
“The whole point of the petition is to motivate her to run,” Khramova said to NJ.com. “I was a little bit surprised and overwhelmed with the amount of support I’m getting.”
Winfrey also received a high-profile piece of encouragement from inside the political sphere when New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker said, according to NJ.com, “I know that it would be a gift to the United States of America if she decided to get formally involved.”