Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Quirky Self-Help Author Becomes Democratic Primary's 1st Biden Challenger
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
February 27, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Bestselling self-help author Marianne Williamson, who brought quirky spiritualism to the 2020 presidential race, has announced she’s running for president again, becoming the first major Democrat to challenge President Joe Biden for his party’s nomination in 2024.

Williamson is formally kicking off her campaign with an event in Washington on Saturday. Without mentioning former President Donald Trump, she noted in a weekend Facebook post that his unconventional White House win makes it “odd for anyone to think they can know who can win the presidency.”

“I’m not putting myself through this again just to add to the conversation,” Williamson wrote. “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.”

Williamson, 70, says she plans to follow her Washington announcement with travel to states voting early in the Democratic primary. That includes New Hampshire, where she’s suggested she’d participate in the state’s primary if it defies Democratic National Committee rules and holds the nation’s first presidential nominating contest despite the party making South Carolina its leadoff state for 2024.

“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,” Williamson wrote. “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.”

Longest of Long Shots

Williamson is the only Democrat in the race — for now. Biden hasn’t yet announced a formal reelection bid that aides say is likely coming in April.

Her primary challenge of a sitting president from her own party would be the longest of long shots under any circumstances. But that’s especially true this cycle, as the Democratic establishment — and even potential presidential hopefuls who could have competed with Biden from the left or middle — has closed ranks with remarkable uniformity behind the president.

A spiritual adviser to Oprah Winfrey and purveyor of physic memorabilia online, Williamson spent about a year seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

One of her signature proposals was a plan to create a U.S. Department of Peace. She also advocated that the federal government pay massive financial reparations to Black Americans as atonement for centuries of slavery and discrimination.

She suspended her campaign in the weeks before 2020′s leadoff Iowa caucus and later endorsed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 bid. He finished second in the Democratic primary against Biden.

The author of more than a dozen books and an unsuccessful independent candidate for Congress from California in 2014, Williamson first made a name for herself on the national political stage during the 2016 presidential race. That’s when she was a vocal support of Sanders’ progressive challenge of eventual Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

This time, she evoked a theme Biden used frequently before last fall’s midterm elections, when Democrats showed surprising resilience. The president argues that American democracy is under threat from extreme “MAGA Republicans” loyal to Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. Williamson said the nation’s political traditions may not endure today’s threats.

“If we don’t preserve the blessings of democracy today,” she wrote in her Facebook post, “we should expect the threat of authoritarianism later.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

US-China Tariff Talks to Continue Sunday, an Official Tells The Associated Press

DON'T MISS

Has America Given Up on Children’s Learning?

DON'T MISS

Could Trump Team Suspend Habeas Corpus to Expedite Deportations?

DON'T MISS

Two Teens Charged in Shooting Death of Caleb Quick

DON'T MISS

India and Pakistan Agree to a Ceasefire After Their Worst Military Escalation in Decades

DON'T MISS

Ukraine and Allies Urge Putin to Commit to a 30-Day Ceasefire or Face New Sanctions

DON'T MISS

Soviet-Era Spacecraft Plunges to Earth After 53 Years Stuck in Orbit

DON'T MISS

Tax the Rich? Slash Spending? Republicans Wrestle With Economic Priorities in the Trump Era

DON'T MISS

Israeli Airstrikes Kill 23 in Gaza as Outcry Over Aid Blockade Grows

DON'T MISS

Experts Call Kennedy’s Plan to find Autism’s Cause Unrealistic

UP NEXT

Has America Given Up on Children’s Learning?

UP NEXT

Could Trump Team Suspend Habeas Corpus to Expedite Deportations?

UP NEXT

India and Pakistan Agree to a Ceasefire After Their Worst Military Escalation in Decades

UP NEXT

Ukraine and Allies Urge Putin to Commit to a 30-Day Ceasefire or Face New Sanctions

UP NEXT

Tax the Rich? Slash Spending? Republicans Wrestle With Economic Priorities in the Trump Era

UP NEXT

Experts Call Kennedy’s Plan to find Autism’s Cause Unrealistic

UP NEXT

Trump’s Trip to Saudi Arabia Raises the Prospect of US Nuclear Cooperation With the Kingdom

UP NEXT

Tariff Talks Begin Between US and Chinese Officials in Geneva

UP NEXT

US Military Ordered to Pull Books on Diversity, Gender Issues

UP NEXT

Mayor Baraka of Newark, New Jersey, Arrested at ICE Detention Center He Has Been Protesting

Two Teens Charged in Shooting Death of Caleb Quick

15 hours ago

India and Pakistan Agree to a Ceasefire After Their Worst Military Escalation in Decades

15 hours ago

Ukraine and Allies Urge Putin to Commit to a 30-Day Ceasefire or Face New Sanctions

15 hours ago

Soviet-Era Spacecraft Plunges to Earth After 53 Years Stuck in Orbit

16 hours ago

Tax the Rich? Slash Spending? Republicans Wrestle With Economic Priorities in the Trump Era

16 hours ago

Israeli Airstrikes Kill 23 in Gaza as Outcry Over Aid Blockade Grows

16 hours ago

Experts Call Kennedy’s Plan to find Autism’s Cause Unrealistic

16 hours ago

Trump’s Trip to Saudi Arabia Raises the Prospect of US Nuclear Cooperation With the Kingdom

16 hours ago

Oh Ohtani! Dodgers Star Hits 3-Run Homer in Late Rally Victory Over Diamondbacks

16 hours ago

Tariff Talks Begin Between US and Chinese Officials in Geneva

16 hours ago

US-China Tariff Talks to Continue Sunday, an Official Tells The Associated Press

GENEVA — Sensitive talks between U.S. and Chinese delegations over tariffs that threaten to upend the global economy ended after a day of pr...

9 hours ago

https://www.communitymedical.org/thecause?utm_source=Misfit+Digital&utm_medium=GVWire+Banner+Ads&utm_campaign=Branding+2025&utm_content=thecause
9 hours ago

US-China Tariff Talks to Continue Sunday, an Official Tells The Associated Press

11 hours ago

Has America Given Up on Children’s Learning?

14 hours ago

Could Trump Team Suspend Habeas Corpus to Expedite Deportations?

The Clovis Police Department identified two suspects they have arrested in connection with the murder of Caleb Quick, 18, at a Saturday, May 10, 2025, news conference. (GV Wire Composite)
15 hours ago

Two Teens Charged in Shooting Death of Caleb Quick

15 hours ago

India and Pakistan Agree to a Ceasefire After Their Worst Military Escalation in Decades

15 hours ago

Ukraine and Allies Urge Putin to Commit to a 30-Day Ceasefire or Face New Sanctions

16 hours ago

Soviet-Era Spacecraft Plunges to Earth After 53 Years Stuck in Orbit

16 hours ago

Tax the Rich? Slash Spending? Republicans Wrestle With Economic Priorities in the Trump Era

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend