Oprah is Not Running For President in 2020

Winfrey addresses the rumors about her own future in politics.

Oprah
Oprah Winfrey attends "The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks" New York Premiere at SVA Theater on April 18, 2017 in New York City. (Mark Sagliocco/FilmMagic)
FilmMagic

In an interview with 60 Minutes Overtime, Oprah Winfrey has made it clear that she is not running for president. “I am actually humbled by the fact that people think that I could be a leader of the free world, but it’s just not in my spirit,” she told 60 Minutes Overtime correspondent Ann Silvio, according to CBS News. “It’s not in my DNA.” Winfrey spoke to Silvio ahead of her next story about America’s political divide, which will air this Sunday on 60 Minutes. Her first story for the broadcast was a roundtable of 14 Michigan voters, half of whom voted for President Donald Trump and half who did not. Winfrey’s next second is a follow-up to this, and brings the same 14 people around a table to talk politics again. Rumblings about Winfrey running for president started after Winfrey accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement — the first black woman to receive the honor. She gave a rousing speech about sexual harassment and the #MeToo movement. By the time the speech was over, people were wondering if she was setting herself up for a 2020 run. But Winfrey said she is not considering a run and if she was, “I would probably take myself out of the role of journalist or conversationalist.” She did have a lot of “wealthy men calling” telling her they would run her campaign. So she thought about it, but said, she hasn’t “heard the call to higher office.”

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