Marianne Williamsonformally announced her 2024 bid for thepresidencyduring a planned campaign launch in Washington, D.C. on Saturday afternoon.
The self-help author and Texas native, 70, is the first notable Democratic candidate tojump in the raceand potentially challengeJoe Biden, 80, who isexpected to run for reelection.
Williamson, who has written 14 books, also ran in the 2020 presidential race. She struggled to gain traction with primary voters, pulling out in early January 2020 and endorsing progressive Sen.Bernie Sanders, who eventually lost the Democratic Party’s nomination to Biden.
Marianne Williamson.Emma McIntyre/Getty
Marianne Williamson.Scott Olson/Getty
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During a Democratic debate in June 2019, Williamson gained attention for her unconventional answer when asked what her first action as president would be.
“My first call is to the prime minister of New Zealand, who said that her goal is to make New Zealand the place where it’s the best place in the world for a child to grow up,” she said of former New Zealand Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern. “And I would tell her, ‘Girlfriend, you are so on, because the United States of America is going to be the best place in the world for a child to grow up.'”
Wiliamson’s 2024 bid comes after RepublicansVivek RamaswamyandNikki Haleyalso announced their bids.
Williamson revealed she was formally announcing her candidacy for Democratic nomination on social media.
“Some have already said of course, Well obviously she can’t win. Or Well that’s good; she’ll add to the conversation,” she wrote. “But since the election of 2016 it’s odd for anyone to think they can know who can win the presidency. And I’m not putting myself through this again just to add to the conversation. I’m running for president to help bring an aberrational chapter of our history to a close, and to help bring forth a new beginning.”
The spiritual adviser also shared in her post, “I feel my forty years being up close and personal with the trauma of so many thousands of individuals gives me a unique perspective on what is needed to help repair America.”
“We need a politics that treats not just symptoms, but cause. That does not base itself on the crass imperatives of endless corporate profit, but on the eternal imperatives of our principles and values. Einstein said we wouldn’t solve the problems of the world from the level of thinking we were at when we created them. It’s time for a new beginning, and this will only happen if we’re willing to look at the world in a different way.”
Williamson was raised Jewish in Houston and according to theGuardian, she is a spiritual adviser toOprah Winfrey. PEOPLEprofiled the author in 1992due her close ties to celebrities.
source: people.com
