This time, Oprah came to my house to campaign

ATLANTA – Kassie Jones was cleaning up a Halloween party at her home in Marietta, Georgia, on Thursday, when Oprah Winfrey came out to talk politics.

It was a big deal.

Mrs. Jones, 66, a retiree who worked in the banking and retail sectors, moved to Atlanta from Chicago three years ago, where Ms. Winfrey's career began. Mrs. Jones had attempted to obtain tickets for her mother on Ms. Winfrey's television show, but had never succeeded. And Mrs. Jones already had a sign in her yard for Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia, on whose behalf Ms. Winfrey had come to take steps.

[President Trump, offering no evidence, said Ms. Abrams’s “past” made her unqualified for governor.]

Mrs. Jones had been prepared for the possibility of an Oprah observation at Marietta. "I had heard on television that Oprah was coming to town," Jones said. "But you know, what are the chances?"

Then, suddenly, there was a group of great S.U.V. with dark windows, and she was there, at the back. Mrs. Jones rushed out, feeling exalted – "the normal school case of a person if she ran into Oprah," she said.

"At first, I thought, 'Oh, my God, I lived in Chicago! I have so many stories to tell you! 'And she was incredibly cordial and wonderful.'

Mrs. Jones has remembered trying to get her mother's tickets for the show. Ms. Winfrey said that she would have liked to know.

Mrs. Jones then showed Ms. Winfrey another sign in her yard. This one, a popular sign in the more liberal quarters of the nation at the time of Trump, proclaimed that his home was a welcoming place for women's rights, science, L.G.B.T. rights and movement Black Lives Matter.

Ms. Jones said she had felt that it was quite complicated to implement this sign in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, which was once a bastion of southern conservatism, but now seems to be in the midst of political change, partly because of more liberal newcomers like her. .

So, she and Mrs. Winfrey talked about the poster and Ms. Winfrey shot a video of it. Ms. Winfrey questioned Ms. Jones about Ms. Abrams and Ms. Jones stated that she was voting for her – although she was not there yet because the lines for early voting had been so long. Polls show a tight race between Ms. Abrams and Brian Kemp, the Republican candidate.

The meeting lasted between eight and ten minutes. Ms. Jones said that it was somewhat surreal to have Oprah Winfrey (and her entourage quite broad) on the lawn of her quiet suburban street. Again, part of Oprah's mystique is that after a person takes a double shot after seeing her in person, she just seems to get into the business of becoming a normal human being. You open the door, and there she takes steps, a clipboard in her hand, and maybe give a wild yawp of recognition and excitement.

Again, such audiences do not come every day and Ms. Jones has taken full advantage. She told Ms. Winfrey a speech she had seen at the Kennedy Center and how it made her cry and made her think that maybe race and politics issues in this troubled country could really be 39; improve.

"I said," I hope you run in 2020, "Jones recalls. "She said," No, no. "

"I said, 'You are the kind of person this country is looking for. Someone who defends fairness and decency. "

"And she was laughing. She was like, "Maybe you should run."