Best-selling spiritual author and political activist Marianne Williamson said she’s running for president in 2024, becoming the first Democrat to enter the race.
Williamson, who never has served in elected office, told Medill News Service (MNS) of her plans on Thursday.
Briefly a presidential candidate in 2020, Williamson plans to launch her campaign with an event in Washington, D.C., on March 4.
“We’re on the phone, but if we were on FaceTime, you’d see me wink,” Williamson said after being asked if she’s entering the race. “I wouldn’t be running for president if I didn’t believe I could contribute to harnessing the collective sensibility that I feel is our greatest hope at this time.”
Williamson’s 2020 campaign slogan was “join the evolution.” However, she dropped out of the race in January while polling at 1% and before any primary.
She said the media in 2020 intentionally mischaracterized her work and mission.
“They tried to paint me as silly, they tried to paint me as unserious because they know I’m not,” she said.
Williamson, a 70-year-old Houston, Texas, native told MNS that the U.S. in the midst of a threat of authoritarianism, where corporate leaders, fossil-fuel companies, gun manufacturers, and the military industrial complex “suck the juice” out of democracy.
“People who run the government are divided into two categories: those who either don’t care to fix it, or do not have the spine to fix it. And neither category should be running this country,” she said.
Williamson also took a jab at Democrat leaders who moved the South Carolina primary ahead of Iowa, which traditionally has kicked off the primary/caucus season. She said the move was an effort to help President Joe Biden.
“How can you claim to be a champion of democracy when your own process is so undemocratic?” Williamson asked.
In 2014, Williamson ran as an independent in the race for California’s 33rd District seat in the U.S. House.
She said she’s hopeful that Americans, especially young people, will rise to the challenges the country is facing.
“What we’re experiencing is the latest iteration of forces who put their property rights and their short term economic gain before the health, safety and well being of the majority of people,” she told MNS. “Other generations have pushed back against that. Now it’s our turn to do that.”
Across the aisle, former President Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley currently the only Republicans to have launched their campaigns.
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