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WashPo: Stacey Abrams gets more Hollywood star power in Georgia governor’s race

By Emily Heil, Nov. 1, 2018 |


Rapper and actor Common with Stacey Abrams in Atlanta on Oct. 28. (Lawrence Bryant/Reuters)

The Georgia gubernatorial race is one of the most closely watched in the country — and it’s also one of the starriest. Celebrities have been turning out in a big way to boost Democrat Stacey Abrams in her bid to become the first African American governor of Georgia.

Media queen Oprah Winfrey, who is campaigning with the candidate Thursday, joining her at two town halls and knocking on doors as the tight race enters its final days, is just the latest boldfacer to make the rounds in the Peach State.

Would-be voters in Georgia might be used to having celebrities show up at their homes by now: “Creed” and “Black Panther” star Michael B. Jordan has been making the rounds, encouraging African Americans to go to the polls, and comedian Will Ferrell did some door-to-door campaigning for Abrams.

Actor Mark Ruffalo has been campaigning for Democrats throughout the country but has taken a special interest in the Georgia race. “I’ll be going out this weekend in my home state of New York,” he said in a video posted Thursday urging people to volunteer to help turn out the vote. “But I want to especially encourage all those in Georgia to show up for Stacey Abrams, who is running for governor to better the lives of all Georgians.”

WATCH: Stacey Abrams wants to be ‘part of the resurgence’  (Video: Joyce Koh)

The Democratic candidate running for governor in Georgia, talked the The Washington Post about overcoming race and gender barriers in politics.

Jordan took a hands-on approach, posting a video Wednesday on Twitter showing the shock of some Peach State residents when they answered the door to find the actor, who canvassed with the Color of Change PAC’s Voting While Black initiative. “Wakanda forever!” one woman told him, quoting a line from “Black Panther.”

“I know some of you think that your vote doesn’t matter,” Jordan says at the end of the video. “But you’re actually some of the most important voters in the country.”

Ferrell, too, wore out some shoe leather for Abrams last month, knocking on doors and recruiting student volunteers at Kennesaw State University, according to the Georgia Democratic Party. “We keep asking ourselves, how can we help?” his wife, Viveca Paulin-Ferrell, told the Hollywood Reporter. “What can we do locally being in California? Should we be knocking on doors?”

Rapper and actor Common appeared with Abrams on Sunday at a “Souls to the Polls” rally. “She is a phenomenal candidate and person and she can make history by becoming the first ever Black Women elected Governor in America,” Common wrote in an Instagram caption of a photo taken at the event.

Tracee Ellis Ross, Uzo Aduba, Rashida Jones and Aisha Hinds joined Abrams in the spring for a bus tour to kick off early primary voting. At the time, Abrams told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she welcomed the help from Hollywood. “While every one of them is certainly known in Hollywood, they each come with their own activist spirit and with work that they’ve done to lift the community,” she said of the stars. “That’s why I’m so thrilled to have them with me, because what they reflect are the values of Georgia.”

Republican Brian Kemp has some famous folk (though they’re not from La La Land) coming in to help him close out his campaign: President Trump and Vice President Pence are campaigning for him, with Trump slated to hold a rally in Georgia on Sunday.

Originally published at www.washingtonpost.com

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