By Joseph Ax and Amy Tennery
(Reuters) - Two former TV stars and political opposites - media mogul Oprah Winfrey and President Donald Trump - took to the U.S. campaign trail on Thursday, five days before elections that will determine whether Trump's Republicans retain control of Congress.
Winfrey appeared in Georgia to back Democrat Stacey Abrams, who is vying to become the United States' first black female governor.
"I'm here today to support a change maker," the movie star and former TV talk show host told a crowd in Cobb County northwest of Atlanta. "She is dynamic. She is so inspired and inspiring."
Trump, who gained nationwide fame as star of the reality show "The Apprentice," was in the second day of an 11-rally tour of states with competitive Senate races. He was to campaign with fellow Republican Josh Hawley, who is trying to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill.
The contest between Abrams, a former state lawmaker, and Republican Brian Kemp has become a flashpoint in the battle over voter access. As Georgia's secretary of state, Kemp oversees the Southern state's elections.
Georgia has one of the country's strictest voter ID laws, measures Republicans say are needed to ensure no one votes illegally. Democrats contend the statutes unfairly block poor people and minority group members from voting.
Voting rights groups sued Kemp, saying his office had inappropriately stopped processing more than 50,000 voter registration applications, many from black voters. Other groups have challenged voting restrictions in states including North Dakota, Arkansas and Ohio.
HEALTHCARE FOCUS
Abrams said improving the state's healthcare system was at the top of the list of issues she wanted to tackle if elected, a message that lined up with Democrats' national focus as they seek to gain control of at least one chamber of Congress, which would give them the ability to oppose Trump's agenda.
"The Republican solution has been nothing," Abrams said on Thursday. "It has been absolutely nothing."
The embrace of healthcare is a sharp shift for Democrats, who were wary of defending Obamacare in previous elections when the law that created it was unpopular with many voters.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll http://polling.reuters.com/#!response/TR112/type/week/dates/20181001-20181030/collapsed/true of 2,673 Americans conducted Oct. 1 through Oct. 28 found healthcare was the top issue for Democratic and independent voters heading into the elections, and third in priority among Republicans, behind immigration and the economy.
Democrats are favoured to flip the 23 seats they need to secure a majority in the House of Representatives, although they are considered a long shot to pick up the two seats needed to capture the Senate.
TRUMP STUMPS
Vulnerable Democratic senators in states Trump won in 2016 are also focussing on healthcare. Among them is Missouri's McCaskill, who has criticized her Republican challenger, state Attorney General Hawley, for joining a lawsuit filed by Republican attorneys general seeking to overturn Obamacare.
ADVERTISEMENTTrump, who vowed throughout his campaign to repeal Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, and fumed when the effort failed, was due in Missouri on Thursday to support Hawley.
On Friday, he will travel to West Virginia, which he won by more than 40 percentage points in 2016. The state's Democratic senator, Joe Manchin, has attacked his opponent, Republican state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, for participating in the same lawsuit Hawley joined.
Republicans say they are also committed to maintaining those protections, drawing accusations of hypocrisy from Democrats and healthcare experts who say an Obamacare repeal would have sent premiums skyrocketing for certain people with pre-existing conditions.
Former Vice President Joe Biden may also address the issue in a Thursday campaign appearance in North Dakota with embattled Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp.
ADVERTISEMENT'FEARMONGERING'
Trump, who will not be on the ballot, came under fire from Democrats and even some fellow Republicans on Thursday for an online video ad backing Republican candidates that attempted to link Democrats and immigrants to violent crime.
The ad featured courtroom footage of Luis Bracamontes - an illegal immigrant from Mexico convicted in the 2014 killings of two police officers in Sacramento, California - saying in accented English he would kill more cops. A narrator asks, "Who else would Democrats let in?"
Robert Reich, who served as secretary of labour in the Clinton administration, called the ad "desperate and vile ... They've resorted to fearmongering."
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(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Amy Tennery in New York; additional reporting by Maria Caspani in Atlanta, David Morgan in Pittsburgh, Jilian Mincer in New York and Daniel Trotta in Tucson, Arizona; Editing by Scott Malone, Peter Cooney and Jonathan Oatis)