MARIETTA, Ga. • In a rousing speech in the Republican-leaning suburbs of Atlanta, Oprah Winfrey urged voters Thursday to make history by backing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams in next week’s election. Winfrey called Abrams a “changemaker” who represents the values of all Georgians.

“I am here today because Stacey Abrams cares about the things that matter,” she said to a mostly female audience north of downtown Atlanta.

Seventy-five miles north, Vice President Mike Pence stood alongside Abrams’ opponent, Brian Kemp, in Dalton, and mocked the billionaire media icon as just another liberal outsider trying to impose on Republican-run Georgia.

“Stacey Abrams is being bankrolled by Hollywood liberals,” Pence said.

Pence drew boos from the crowd when he mentioned that “Oprah is in town” and noted that actor Will Ferrell was recently in Georgia for Democrats.

“I’d like to remind Stacey and Oprah and Will Ferrell, I’m kind of a big deal, too,” Pence said, adding “a message for all Stacey Abrams’ liberal friends: This ain’t Hollywood. This is Georgia.”

The competing scenes — from the candidates, to the audiences, to the headliner guests — underscore the choice Georgia voters face Tuesday in one of the nation’s premier midterm matchups.

After Thursday’s dueling outsiders, former President Barack Obama will follow Friday for Abrams. President Donald Trump will appear with Kemp on Sunday and previewed his argument Thursday.

“I’ve always liked Oprah,” he said at the White House. “Oprah’s good, but the woman that she’s supporting is not qualified to be the governor of Georgia by any stretch of the imagination.”

Oprah Winfrey speaks to a crowd Thursday during a town hall conversation for gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams at the Cobb Civic Center’s Jennie T. Anderson Theatre in Marietta, Ga. Winfrey visited Georgia on Thursday to canvass neighborhoods in Metro Atlanta and show her support for gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

the associated press