Washington, US

Marianne Williamson has declared her plans to run for president in 2024, making her the first Democrat to take on Joe Biden for the party's nomination.

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Marianne Williamson, the self-help author and spiritual adviser to Oprah Winfrey, launched her campaign in Washington on Saturday (February 25). 

The unconventional 2016 White House triumph, according to Williamson, makes it "odd for anyone to think they can know who can win the presidency," she said in a Facebook post after running unsuccessfully for president in 2020.

“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.”

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Marianne Williamson: Early life and career 

Williamson was born in Houston in 1952, according to her 2020 campaign website. Her mother was a conventional housewife, while her father practised immigration law.

She attended Houston Public School and studied at Pomona College in California for two years.

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Later, she founded the Centers for Living in Los Angeles and Manhattan in the 1980s, at the height of the AIDS pandemic, to aid those who were suffering from the illness, according to The New York Times.

In 1992, she released her debut book, A return to love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles.

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Williamson said on her website that Oprah Winfrey's decision to invite her as a guest on her well-known talk show and distribute a thousand copies of her book helped it become a success.

Twelve novels have subsequently been released by her, four of which have debuted at number one on The New York Times bestseller list.

Williamson recognised that her career hasn't been conventional on her website but claimed that it has been successful.

“I have been a teacher of transformational wisdom, a successful businesswoman, and a political activist. I have counselled leaders ranging from business to culture to politics. I have been blessed to participate in many non-profit activities, including co-founding The Peace Alliance working on the Board of Results, and speaking for various charitable causes over the years. I produced and hosted four Sister Giant Conferences, facilitating the connection of thousands of women to progressive activism and electoral politics,” Williamson wrote.

Williamson's political debut, unsuccessful 2020 campaign

Williamson entered politics for the first time in 2014 when she lost her bid for a seat in the Los Angeles City Council.

She initially made a name for herself on the national scene in 2016 as an outspoken supporter of progressive senator Bernie Sanders, who lost the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton.

Williamson's announcement that she might be running for US president in 2019 caused controversy.

Her attempt to use her own fame as a springboard into politics was an attempt to emulate then president Donald Trump.

“Mr President, if you’re listening, I want you to hear me, please: You have harnessed fear for political purposes, and only love can cast that out,” she said as per The New York Times.

As per the New York Times, she called payments of reparations to Black people "payment of a debt that is owed" and asserted that the Flint water crisis would never have happened in an affluent, white neighbourhood.

One of her most intriguing ideas was to establish a US Department of Peace.

Also, some of her most outlandish opinions came under more intense examination due to her heightened notoriety.

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According to The Los Angeles Times, Williamson drew criticism in June 2019 for calling vaccine requirements "draconian" and "Orwellian."

“To me, it’s no different than the abortion debate,” Williamson said. “The US government doesn’t tell any citizen, in my book, what they have to do with their body or their child.”

Williamson however had trouble obtaining funds and his polling average never exceeded one per cent.

Days after firing her entire 2020 campaign team, Williamson withdrew from the race in January 2020.

Williamson wrote on her website saying, “we will not be able to garner enough votes in the election to elevate our conversation any more than it is now.”

Biden vs. Williamson

Williamson said she intends to visit states with early Democratic primary voting after her announcement in Washington. This includes New Hampshire, where she has said she will run in the state's primary if it breaches DNC rules and hosts the country's first presidential nomination battle even though the party has designated South Carolina as its leadoff state for 2024.

She declared: “I feel my 40 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,” as reported by the Guardian. 

“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,” she added. 

The official announcement of Biden's reelection campaign, according to advisers, is expected to happen within the next several months. The president "pretty much" had to choose a time and location to declare his candidature for reelection, according to first lady Jill Biden, who recently told The Associated Press.

Biden himself, though told ABC that “there’s too many other things I have to finish in the near-term before I start a campaign.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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