The value of celebrity endorsements in political campaigns is highly debatable. But Vice President Harris’ campaign did place a value on them. On October 15, the Harris campaign paid Oprah Winfrey’s production company $1 million. This came weeks after Oprah held an event endorsing Harris and appeared alongside the candidate at various events.
In her endorsement of Harris, Winfrey said. “We’re voting for values and integrity.” She failed to mention that the “value” was a cool million dollars.
While it is virtually certain that Winfrey would favor Harris, the talk show celebrity rarely makes political endorsements. She made an exception for Barack Obama in 2008. So, what motivated her this time?
The question remains whether she would have done so in 2024 without the added incentive of $1 million. It is not as though Winfrey needed the money since she is one of the richest women in the world. If she was so committed to Harris, Winfrey could have donated a million smackaroos to the campaign.
It has also been reported that Alex Cooper, host of Call Her Daddy podcast, got a “six figure” stipend in conjunction with Harris’ appearance. Was the podcast interview nothing more than a paid commercial?
Whether Winfrey and Cooper would have endorsed Harris without the payment, the cash on the barrelhead transaction diminishes the credibility and luster of the endorsements. They become a bit of an embarrassment when one considers that the highly touted endorsement events did not improve Harris’ standing in the poll. They did not move the needle. And obviously, they had no positive impact on the outcome of the election. It was money down the drain.
Such expenditures may partly explain another embarrassment. It seems that after raising more than $1 billion for a 90 day run, the Harris campaign ran out of money before Election Day and had to borrow millions of dollars to finish out the campaign.
Neither the endorsers nor the endorsee comes out looking good on this one.
So, there ‘tis.