Marianne Williamson: Democratic long-shot ‘unsuspends’ US presidential election campaign

Self-help author Marianne Williamson, on Wednesday (Feb 28) announced that she is “unsuspending” her presidential campaign and restarting her long-shot Democratic challenge to President Joe Biden.

In a surprising comeback, Williamson, 71, took to X and said that she was re-joining the presidential race after dropping out three weeks ago and announcing the suspension of her primary challenge to Biden.

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Why is Williamson ‘unsuspending’ her campaign?

“Hey, I have an important announcement to make. As of today, I am unsuspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States,” Williamson said in a video posted on X. She also went on to admit that she dropped out because “I was losing the horse race.”

The announcement also came after the Michigan primary election results where Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump easily won their respective primaries.

Notably, Williamson, despite dropping out of the race, edged out Representative Dean Phillips (Democrat-Minnesota) and secured third place in the Michigan Democratic primary.

She received around three per cent of the votes when compared to Phillips’ 2.7 per cent. Whereas Biden secured 81.1 per cent of the votes.

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“Right now we have a fascist standing at the door and everybody’s all upset about it,” said Williamson, on X presumably referring to the former president.

She also went on to criticise Biden’s economic policies at length and how they only benefit a small part of the US population and argued that “we need a president” who will eliminate student loan debt, provide Medicare for all, and so on.

‘Juggernaut of dark vision’

In her video, the writer and progressive Democrat said that people tell her “you’re delusional”.

“I’ll tell you what’s delusional…closing our eyes and crossing our fingers and just hoping that somehow Biden and Harris will be able to beat that juggernaut of dark, dark vision,” Williamson said referring to Trump.

She also called for a ceasefire in Gaza amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The impact of the Biden administration’s continued support for Israel was also reflected in the Michigan Democratic primary results as a section of angry Democrat voters (more than 13 per cent) marked their ballots as “uncommitted”.

According to the Michigan Department of State, selecting ‘uncommitted’ implies that the voter is exercising a party vote, but not committed to the candidates on the ballot.

Who isMarianne Williamson?

Marianne Williamsonlaunched her second shot at the presidency nearly a year ago and became the firstmajor Democrat to Biden for theparty’s nomination in 2024.

In 2020, she backed out of the race for the White Housein early January of that year after not gaining enoughtraction during the primaries and endorsed SenatorBernie Sanders.

Williamson, who is reportedlyaspiritual adviser to Oprah Winfrey, came under fire last year due to her "abusive" treatment of her2020 campaign staff.

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The 71-year-old has built a career preaching love and forgiveness but, according to media reports, herpublic persona contradicts herprivate behaviour.

“It would be foaming, spitting, uncontrollable rage,” a former staffer told Politico last year speaking aboutWilliamson's behaviourduring her 2020 presidential campaign.“It was traumatic. And the experience, in the end, was terrifying.”

Williamson grew up in Houston, Texas. She attended Pomona College in California but dropped out after two years and moved to New York topursue a career in singing.

In the early1980s, she movedto Los Angeles. It was around that time that shebecame involved in awareness and advocacy efforts for people with HIV and AIDS.

Williamson founded two organisations,the Los Angeles and Manhattan Centers for Living, and the Angel Food Project,to support people living with AIDS. She is alsothe author of 12 books, out of which four havemade The New York Times bestseller list.

(With inputs from agencies)