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Marianne Williamson presidential campaign, 2020

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Marianne Williamson suspended her presidential campaign on January 10, 2020.


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“ Our national challenges are deep, but our political conversation is shallow. My campaign is for people who want to dig deeper into the questions we face as a nation and deeper into finding the answers.[1] ”
—Marianne Williamson (January 2019)[2]


Marianne Williamson is a former Democratic candidate for president of the United States in 2020. She entered the race on January 28, 2019, and ended her campaign on January 10, 2020.[3]

Williamson said she wanted to bring a moral and spiritual awakening to the United States with her candidacy. She supported Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and $100 billion in reparations for slavery. Williamson also said that U.S. foreign policy and national security "should be based more on efforts to wage peace than on efforts to prepare for war."[4][5]

Williamson is a lecturer and author. She ran to represent the 33rd Congressional District of California as an independent candidate in 2014.[6]

Click here to read Williamson's responses to Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

Williamson in the news

See also: Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing and Editorial approach to story selection for the Daily Presidential News Briefing

This section featured five news stories about Williamson and her presidential campaign. For a complete timeline of Williamson's campaign activity, click here.

Biography

Williamson was born in 1952 and grew up in Houston, Texas. She attended Pomona College in California for two years. Williamson read the book A Course in Miracles in her mid-20s, which she has credited with launching her career as an author and lecturer.[7]

Williamson lectured on the book throughout the 1980s. In 1989, she founded Project Angel Food, a program delivering food to homebound individuals with AIDS in the Los Angeles area.[8] She co-founded The Peace Alliance in 2004. The nonprofit says it aims to educate and advocate around peacebuilding, including a campaign for the establishment of a U.S. Department of Peace.[9]

As of the beginning of her presidential campaign, Williamson had published 13 books, including four New York Times #1 best sellers.[7] She also had appeared as a guest on television shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, and Real Time With Bill Maher.

Williamson ran as an independent to represent California's 33rd Congressional District in the U.S. House in 2014. She placed fourth in an 18-candidate field, receiving 13 percent of the vote in the top-two primary election.

Campaign staff

See also: Marianne Williamson presidential campaign staff, 2020, Presidential election key staffers, 2020, and Presidential campaign managers, 2020

The table below shows a sampling of the candidate's 2020 national campaign staff members, including the campaign manager and some senior advisors, political directors, communication directors, and field directors. It also includes each staff member's position in the campaign, previous work experience, and Twitter handle, where available.[10] For a larger list of national campaign staff, visit Democracy in Action.

Williamson confirmed on January 2, 2020, that she had laid off her campaign staff nationally. The following list reflects previously employed staff members.[11]

Marianne Williamson presidential campaign national staff, 2020
Staff Position Prior experience Twitter handle
Patricia Ewing Campaign manager Partner, PLUS Strategic Advisors N/A
Eleanor LeCain Policy director President, The Breakthrough Way, 2008-2019 N/A
Juan Rodriguez National press secretary N/A N/A
Jeff Marshall National data director Data manager, David Wilson Brown for U.S. House, 2018 N/A
Helen Caddes Digital director Advanced tech, cloud partner support, and application developer support, Block N/A



Campaign finance

The following chart shows Democratic presidential campaign fundraising, including both total receipts and contributions from individuals, as well as campaign spending. Figures for each candidate run through the end of June 2020 or through the final reporting period during which the candidate was actively campaigning for president. The total disbursements column includes operating expenditures, transfers to other committees, refunds, loan repayments, and other disbursements.[12]


Satellite spending

Satellite spending, commonly referred to as outside spending, describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[13][14][15]

This section lists satellite spending in this race reported by news outlets in alphabetical order. If you are aware of spending that should be included, please email us.

Democratic presidential primary debates, 2019-2020

See also: Democratic presidential nomination, 2020

The following table provides an overview of the date, location, host, and number of participants in each scheduled 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate.

2020 Democratic presidential primary debates
Debate Date Location Host Number of participants
First Democratic primary debate June 26-27, 2019 Miami, Florida NBC News, MSNBC, and Telemundo 20 candidates
Second Democratic primary debate July 30-31, 2019 Detroit, Michigan CNN 20 candidates
Third Democratic primary debate September 12, 2019 Houston, Texas ABC News and Univision 10 candidates
Fourth Democratic primary debate October 15, 2019 Westerville, Ohio CNN and The New York Times 12 candidates
Fifth Democratic primary debate November 20, 2019 Georgia MSNBC and The Washington Post 10 candidates
Sixth Democratic primary debate December 19, 2019 Los Angeles, California PBS NewsHour and Politico 7 candidates
Seventh Democratic primary debate January 14, 2020 Des Moines, Iowa CNN and The Des Moines Register 6 candidates
Eighth Democratic primary debate February 7, 2020 Manchester, New Hampshire ABC, WMUR-TV, and Apple News 7 candidates
Ninth Democratic primary debate February 19, 2020 Las Vegas, Nevada NBC News and MSNBC 6 candidates
Tenth Democratic primary debate February 25, 2020 Charleston, South Carolina CBS News and Congressional Black Caucus Institute 7 candidates
Eleventh Democratic primary debate March 15, 2020 Washington, D.C. CNN, Univision, and CHC Bold 2 candidates


Debate participation

Williamson participated in two of the six Democratic presidential primary debates that took place during her campaign. She last participated in the July 2019 debate.

Campaign advertisements

Support

This section shows a sampling of advertisements released to support or oppose this candidate in the 2020 presidential election.

"Reparations - An Idea Whose Time Has Come" - Williamson campaign ad, released October 29, 2019
"Now Is Our Time" - Williamson campaign ad, released February 4, 2019

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Marianne Williamson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Williamson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

I went to public schools in Houston. I had a voracious appetite for comparative religion and philosophy, and began reading a set of books called A Course in Miracles. The Course is not a religion, but rather a self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy based on universal spiritual themes. There is no dogma or doctrine; it is simply a book on how to forgive. My study of The Course, plus writing and speaking about it, turned into a 35-year career. When I began speaking to small groups about the Course in Los Angeles in 1983, the horrifying AIDS epidemic burst onto the scene. Los Angeles was hit particularly hard by the disease, and many of its victims found their way to my talks. I became deeply involved in the crisis, facilitating counseling and support groups; non-profit organizations in Los Angeles and New York to provide non-medical support to people living with life-challenging illnesses; and the creation of Project Angel Food, a meals-on-wheels service to homebound people with AIDS that has now served over 11 million meals. I have since published 12 other books, the fourth of which was called Healing the Soul of America. Four of my books have been #1 New York Times bestsellers. I recently wrote a book called A Politics of Love: Handbook for a New American Revolution. I had become deeply aware of the larger personal, economic and social problems faced by people throughout our country and the world. I have been a teacher of transformational wisdom, a successful businesswoman, and a political activist. I have counseled leaders ranging from business to culture to politics. I have participated in many non-profit activities, including co-founding THE PEACE ALLIANCE working on the Board of RESULTS, and speaking for various charitable causes. I produced and hosted four SISTER GIANT Conferences, facilitating the connection of thousands of women to progressive activism and electoral politics.
  • I have an inspiring vision for America - speak to the heart of the matter, articulate the deeper forces that have divided us as a country, and harness the motivation and inspiration we will need to turn our country around.
  • We will harness love to defeat the forces of hatred - and love will win.
  • We must realign our economics with justice, rescue millions of traumatized children, heal our racial divide, reverse climate change, and regain America's moral authority as a world leader.
We need an economy that serves our humanity, rather than an economy that runs roughshod over our humanity. We need more broadly shared prosperity through fair taxes, stronger unions and better wages and working conditions. We can unleash the creativity of the American people by improving economic security and education: as people pursue their dreams, we will achieve peace and prosperity.

We need a season of moral repair.

We need to do our best to love one another, not just as individuals, but as groups of individuals.

We need to take care of our children.

We need to remember that serving our country is more important than serving ourselves.
Read my books, A Politics of Love: A Handbook for a New American Revolution, and Healing the Soul of America.
Integrity.
Having the best interests of the American people at heart.
Vision.

Ability to inspire people.

Integrity. Being incorruptible.
Protect Americans from threats from without and within.

Launch a Season of Repair to heal our nation and bring people together.

Enact policies and programs that strengthen the economic security of working people.
A legacy of love that transforms politics and government to benefit We the People.
I began speaking to small groups about the Course at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles in 1983, the strange and horrifying AIDS epidemic burst onto the scene. Los Angeles was hit particularly hard by the disease, and many of its victims found their way to my talks. I became deeply involved in the crisis, facilitating counseling and support groups; non-profit organizations in Los Angeles and New York to provide non-medical support to people living with life-challenging illnesses; and the creation of Project Angel Food, a meals-on-wheels service to homebound people with AIDS that has now served over 11 million meals to people in the Los Angeles area. In a very real sense, my life's work emerged from that experience.
A Politics of Love, because it lays out my vision for America.
Running for office is challenging!
I would support reforms that return power to the American people, not corporations and the very rich. This includes supporting a constitutional amendment that overturns the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court that legalized a flood of money in politics, restoring voting rights protections, and stopping gerrymandering districts. I would also take steps to strengthen the economic security of working Americans, AND to address the climate crisis.
We need a visionary leader who can inspire Americans to act. I can be that inspirational leader.
Also I have a 35 year career helping people move from trauma to transformation. That's what we need to do as a country right now.
Overturn Citizens United. Limit money in politics.
I am the first presidential candidate to advocate for reparations, and the only one with a plan for how to do it.

In many ways, America has continued the process of racial reconciliation begun in the 1960's. Yet in other ways, we have actually slipped backward. Yes, there are no more colored bathrooms and separate drinking fountains. But we now have mass incarceration; racial disparity in criminal sentencing; lost voting rights; outright voter suppression; and police brutality often focused on black populations.

Tepid solutions are not enough for the times in which we live; we need huge, strategized acts of righteousness, now. Just as Germany has paid $89 Billion in reparations to Jewish organizations since WW2, the United States should pay reparations for slavery. A debt unpaid is still a debt unpaid, even if it's 150 years later. The legacy of that injustice lives on, with racist policies infused into our systems even to this day. From employment and housing discrimination, to equal access to quality education in underserved communities, to police brutality/prejudice, to lack of fair lending practices, to lack of access to quality healthcare, to insecure voting rights, America has not yet completed the task of healing our racial divide.

For that reason, I propose a $200 billion - $500 billion plan of reparations for slavery, the money to be disbursed over a period of twenty years. An esteemed council of African-American leaders would determine the educational and economic projects to which the money would be given.
FDR.
Each of these presidents was skilled at offering a vision for a better America, and inspiring people to believe it is possible. I seek to do the same, but with my own agenda. See www.Marianne2020.com and review Issues.
Harnassing love as a political force. It is the only thing that will defeat Trump. And it is what America needs to heal.
Speaker/writer. I am a best-selling author and have published 13 books.
I initially opposed Impeachment of Trump. But after learning that the president pressured a foreign leader to dig up dirt on his political opponent, I now support impeachment.
I would look for people who have intelligence and integrity, and who have the best interests of the American people at heart.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign themes

The following campaign themes and issues were published on Williamson's presidential campaign website:[16]

“ The Issues Aren’t Always the Issue

Life is made up of two dimensions: things on the outside and things on the inside. As people, we not only think, we also feel: we care not only about what is happening to our bodies but also what is happening to our souls.

America is not just having problems with what is happening to our economy, our environment, our educational system and so forth. We have a problem with the psychological fabric of our country, as a low level emotional civil war has begun in too many ways to rip us apart.

In order to deal with that, we must address it on the level of our internal being. We don’t normally associate politics with a deep level of our internal existence, but this is the 21st Century now and all of that needs to change.

People think politics is ugly -- and it is true that some of it is. But there is something else to politics too, when we allow it to unfold - something noble and good. Our task in the 21st Century is to transform our experience of politics, that we might help transform our country.

We should participate in politics with the same level of consciousness as that which we bring to all of our most important and meaningful pursuits. We should bring all of ourselves to it. We should bring our hearts and minds and deepest dedication to something bigger than ourselves.

Politics is very, very serious business in a country as big and powerful as ours. When we get it right, it can be beautiful; but when we get it wrong it can be a terrible thing. We are all responsible for that. With every election, with every campaign, we are deciding something extremely important. We are deciding what is possibly the fate of millions, the fate of the earth, even perhaps the fate of humanity. And if that is not a sacred charge, I cannot imagine what is.

This is a new time, and we must bring forth something new within ourselves in order to deal with it. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.” [1]

”
—Marianne Williamson[16]

Williamson also published 21 individual policy pages on the following issues:

  • Child Advocacy
  • Climate Change
  • Crime Prevention
  • Criminal Justice
  • Democracy at Risk
  • Education
  • Food
  • Gun Safety
  • Health Care
  • Immigration
  • LGBTQ Rights
  • Mass Incarceration
  • National Security
  • National Service
  • Native American Justice
  • Racial Reconciliation & Healing
  • Reproductive Rights
  • Social Security
  • The Economy
  • Veterans
  • Women's Rights

Williamson participated in an interview series with The New York Times that asked 21 Democratic candidates the same series of 18 questions. To view Williamson's responses, click here.

Archive of Political Emails

The Archive of Political Emails was founded in July 2019 to compile political fundraising and advocacy emails sent by candidates, elected officials, PACs, nonprofits, NGOs, and other political actors.[17] The archive includes screenshots and searchable text from emails sent by 2020 presidential candidates. To review the Williamson campaign's emails, click here.

Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing

See also: Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing

The following section provides a timeline of Williamson's campaign activity beginning in January 2019. The entries, which come from Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing, are sorted by month in reverse chronological order.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  2. ↑ NBC Los Angeles, "Author Marianne Williamson Announces Presidential Candidacy," January 29, 2019
  3. ↑ The New York Times, "Marianne Williamson Drops Out of 2020 Presidential Race," January 10, 2020
  4. ↑ Council on Foreign Relations, "Campaign 2020: Marianne Williamson, Democratic Presidential Candidate," February 19, 2019
  5. ↑ RealClearPolitics, "Presidential Candidate Marianne Williamson Calls For "Moral And Spiritual Awakening" In The U.S.," January 31, 2019
  6. ↑ Marianne Williamson, "About," accessed February 25, 2019
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Marianne Williamson's 2019 campaign website, "My Story," accessed July 10, 2019
  8. ↑ Marianne Williamson, "Marianne's Bio," accessed July 10, 2019
  9. ↑ Peace Alliance, "History," accessed July 10, 2019
  10. ↑ Democracy in Action, "Organization," accessed November 4, 2019
  11. ↑ WMUR, "Democrat Marianne Williamson lays off campaign staff nationally, including NH," January 2, 2020
  12. ↑ FEC, "U.S. President," accessed July 16, 2019
  13. ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed September 22, 2015
  14. ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed September 22, 2015
  15. ↑ National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," November 6, 2015
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Marianne Williamson, "The Issues," accessed February 25, 2019
  17. ↑ Archive of Political Emails, "About," accessed September 16, 2019
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