Marianne Williamson has suspended her campaign for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination after coming in second in the South Carolina primary with just 2 percent of the vote.
The self-help author challenged President Joe Biden from the left — adopting most of the last presidential platform of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — but Williamson struggled with raising money and a lack of organization. Her campaign is in debt, and more than one dozen disgruntled staffers have been left in its wake.
The churn of Willaimson’s campaign staff was constant over the course of her 2024 bid, particularly in the early months of her campaign. A mix of firings and resignations dwindled the operation to a skeleton staff, mostly focused on in-person events in early voting states.
Williamson polled higher and won more votes this time around than during her 2020 campaign, which was also plagued with staffing problems. But she was not able to build a broader coalition to threaten Biden’s claim to the nomination. The Democratic National Committee chose not to host any primary debates and largely ignored Williamson’s candidacy.
During the course of Williamson’s campaign, she went through four campaign managers, of whom Carlos Cardona, a local New Hampshire pol, had the longest tenure. He announced his departure from the campaign after the New Hampshire primary when Williamson got 4 percent of the vote.
“I read a quote the other day that said sunsets are proof that endings can be beautiful too,” Williamson said in a video message to supporters ending her campaign. “And so today, even though it is time to suspend my campaign for the presidency, I do want to see the beauty.”
But like much of the campaign, even Williamson’s dropout wasn’t well executed.
After the New Hampshire primary contest, Williamson hosted a call with volunteers and floated the end of her presidential bid. She finished not only behind a write-in campaign to vote for Biden, who did not campaign in the state, but also Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who only entered the race last October.
“This is how I’m feeling now — and please, I’m asking you not to repeat this. I don’t want the press to be on this. … My thoughts are now that the power move is to suspend the campaign,” according to a video of the call shared by the X account OrganizerMemes.
Williamson also posted a letter announcing her withdrawal from the race on her ActBlue page, the platform Democrats use to receive political donations, screenshots of which were also shared on X.
“As of today I am suspending my campaign for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency. While I hoped we could create a breakthrough in New Hampshire, in the final analysis we could not compete with million dollar SUPER PAC-funded TV and internet ad campaigns,” the letter said.
It added that the ActBlue page would remain up to accept donations to pay down the campaign debts. According to the last financial disclosures, the campaign owes about $593,000. Williamson also put in about $470,000 to keep her campaign afloat.
Williamson claimed in an X post that she had been hacked and committed to staying in the race.
The author launched her second campaign for president at Union Station in Washington, D.C., where she moved after her first attempt for the Oval Office in 2020. She was the first challenger to Biden’s reelection bid to register support in polls, but hit a ceiling of about 10 percent, which was about where she entered the contest.
Williamson has not said whether she will seek another run for office. But she will return to the literary world with a new book set to be released in May. Williamson delayed the publication of The Mystic Jesus: The Mind of Love last fall, when the book’s announcement attracted accusations that the campaign was a “grift” to promote the book.
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