Self-help author Marianne Williamson on Friday announced she is suspending her bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
She said in a note to supporters that she stayed in the race to try to take advantage of “every possible opportunity” to share her message.
“With caucuses and primaries now about to begin, however, we will not be able to garner enough votes in the election to elevate our conversation any more than it is now,” she said. “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.”
The end of Ms. Williamson’s quixotic bid for the White House became almost inevitable when news broke last week that she had laid off her entire national campaign staff.
She ran on a message of trying to “harness love” to defeat President Trump and had proposed initiatives like a new U.S. Department of Peace.
Ms. Williamson qualified for the first few Democratic debates last year, but struggled since then to attract attention and fundraising for her campaign.
She said Friday that she hopes ideas like a peace agenda and reparations for slavery will “find seed” in other campaigns and that she would fully support whoever wins the Democratic nomination.
“Things are changing swiftly and dramatically in this country, and I have faith that something is awakening among us,” she said. “A politics of conscience is still yet possible.”
She also ended up attracting attention last summer when past comments in which she appeared to question the utility of anti-depressants resurfaced.
“I’m pro medicine. I’m pro science. I’ve never told anyone not to take medicine. I’ve never fat-shamed anyone. And today there’s a new one: no I don’t support Scientology. The machinery of mischaracterization is in high gear now. Gee, did I upset someone?” she said on Twitter in August.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.