A claim from a new book is making major waves — but it might not be true.
Oprah Winfrey is one of the most recognizable and powerful celebrities in the country — so powerful, in fact, that many believe if she channeled her goodwill into a run for the White House, she’d have a real shot. Has she ever considered it? Well, that depends on who you ask.
According to a new book about Mitt Romney, the senator from Utah was approached by the legendary TV host in the lead-up to the 2020 election with the idea of teaming up for an across-the-aisle presidential ticket. Winfrey, however, has disputed that characterization of their conversation. The speculation is fascinating, so it’s time to make like Oprah’s Book Club and read between the lines.
Let’s start with the original claim. It comes from Romney: A Reckoning, the upcoming biography by The Atlantic writer McKay Coppins. The book will be released Oct. 24, but outlets like The New York Times and Axios got a look at the manuscript in advance of publication.
According to their analysis of the text, Winfrey’s call was precipitated by outreach from Michael Bloomberg, who was gearing up to launch his own presidential bid and asked Winfrey about being his running mate. Before she made a decision, she wanted to speak to Romney, whom she had interviewed during his 2012 run for president and whose wife, Ann Romney, Winfrey was “especially fond of.” Romney (the book) says that Winfrey was unconvinced candidates like Joe Biden or Pete Buttigieg had what it took to defeat the incumbent, President Donald Trump, and she was “certain” Elizabeth Warren couldn’t do it.
With all of that in mind, Coppins’s book explains, Winfrey called Romney in late 2019 to pitch the idea that they team up to run for president and vice president as a “unity” ticket. She allegedly framed it as a move “to save the country.”
The result? According to Coppins’s sources, at least, Romney took Winfrey’s call but “politely” declined the offer to be running mates.
But that’s not exactly how it went down from Winfrey’s point of view. After reports of this phone call were first published, a spokesperson for Winfrey refuted the account to Axios, arguing that Winfrey’s personal involvement in the election had never been part of the proposition.
“In November 2019, Ms. Winfrey called Senator Romney to encourage him to run on an Independent ticket. She was not calling to be part of the ticket and was never considering running herself,” the representative said.
The idea of Oprah as president (or vice president) was nothing new by the time this conversation with Romney happened. It’s been a joke for years, given her beloved status in the culture, but the narrative took off with more seriousness after the rousing speech she delivered at the 2018 Golden Globe Awards, which had all the rhetorical trappings of a professional politician.
Days after that ceremony, The Wrap published a convincing assessment of her chances, when it shared data about her “Q score,” a common measurement of how the public perceives a famous face. Winfrey’s scores for likability and general awareness were significantly higher than the average performer’s, especially among women.
Winfrey, however, wasn’t convinced. While she admitted to PEOPLE in February 2018 that she’d considered the idea after hearing so many people make the case, she said during a campaign event for Stacey Abrams in November of that year that she wouldn’t be jumping into an election herself.
“I want to make it very clear to all of the press, everybody, I am not here because I am making some grandstand because I’m thinking about running myself,” Winfrey said. “I don’t want to run. I am not trying to test any waters, don’t want to go in those waters.”
As for Romney, he ultimately decided not to jump into the fray in 2020 — and he later said he didn’t vote for Trump in that election, either. He’s currently finishing out his term in the Senate, and he’s announced that he won’t seek re-election in 2024, declaring that he hoped to clear the way for a “new generation of leaders.”
