Former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson said on Saturday that she will make an “important announcement” in March, amid speculation that she might challenge President Joe Biden for the White House in 2024.
“As America gears up for the 2024 presidential election, I’m preparing an important announcement on March 4th in Washington D.C.,” Williamson said in a statement.
She listed three motivations that “propelled me to explore the possibility of running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2024.”
“I am motivated by: a commitment to the tenets of liberty espoused in the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address; a realization of the Democratic Party’s shift away from the party of President Franklin Roosevelt; and the economic injustices endured by millions of Americans due to the influence of corporate money on our political system,” she explained.
Williamson added that her announcement will be made at the nation’s capital at 2 p.m. local time on March 4.
“I look forward to discussing with the country my thoughts about where we have been as a nation, where we are now, and where we need to go from here,” she concluded.
So far, no Democrat has officially announced a 2024 White House bid, though Biden is widely expected to seek re-election. In an interview with NBC News on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris said Biden “has said he intends to run for re-election as president” and she intended to be his running mate again.
Williamson
In an interview with Politico published on Friday, Williamson, a best-selling author, argued that there was a disconnect between Biden and average Americans.
“Apparently Biden’s going to run on a message that the economy is getting stronger. I think that speaks to the disconnect between the analysis of party elites versus the struggle of everyday Americans,” Williamson said.
“We’re being asked to limit our political imaginations—to just accept the low unemployment and low inflation rate, that that is sort of the best that we can get,” Williamson continued. “But that is a hollow victory. The majority of Americans are still struggling to survive.”
During the previous presidential election cycle, Williamson formally announced her campaign for the Democratic nomination in January 2019, before dropping out a year later and subsequently endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
During her campaign, she promoted the idea of creating a “U.S. Department of Peace,” arguing that such an agency would make the nation and the world “a safer place.”
In a statement announcing the suspension of her presidential campaign in January 2020, Williamson said that she would not be able to pick up enough votes to “elevate our conversation any more than it is now.”
“The primaries might be tightly contested among the top contenders, and I don’t want to get in the way of a progressive candidate winning any of them,” she added.
In 2014, Williamson ran as an independent seeking to represent California’s 33rd Congressional District but lost in a blanket primary.
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She also told the outlet that she is not “anti-science” or “anti-vax,” when asked what the media got wrong about her in 2020.
“I’m not the crystal lady. I didn’t tell people they got sick because they didn’t pray enough,” she added.
In a potential 2024 race, she told the outlet that her strategy would be to “tell the truth as I understand it.”
Republicans
Former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley are not the only Republicans to have announced their bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Trump launched his 2024 bid in November last year, while Haley announced her bid on Feb. 14.
Haley held her first 2024 campaign rally in Charleston, South Carolina, on Feb. 15, during which she called for term limits for Congress and “mandatory mental competency tests” for politicians over the age of 75.
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These Republicans May Be Angling to Run for President in 2024“We’re ready, ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past, and we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us into the future,” Haley said. “We won’t win the fight for the 21st century if we keep trusting politicians from the 20th century.”
Trump is the favorite to win the GOP nomination, according to a new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released on Feb. 17. Trump led Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis 46 percent to 23 percent, while former Vice President Mike Pence came up third with seven percent, followed by Haley with six percent.
The poll was conducted for two days ending on Feb. 16 and surveyed 1,838 registered voters.
In a potential 2024 match-up between Biden and Trump, 46 percent of those surveyed said they would vote for the former president, compared to 41 percent who said they would vote for the president. Thirteen percent said they were unsure or didn’t know whom they would support.
From The Epoch Times