Marianne Williamson

American author and politician

Marianne Deborah Williamson (born July 8, 1952)[1] is an American spiritual teacher, author, and lecturer. She has published 14 books, including four New York Times number one bestsellers. [2] She is the founder of Project Angel Food, a meals-on-wheels program that serves homebound people with AIDS [3] in the Los Angeles area, and the co-founder[4] of The Peace Alliance.

Marianne Williamson
Williamson in November 2019
Personal details
Born
Marianne Deborah Williamson

(1952-07-08) July 8, 1952 (age 71)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Other political
affiliations
Independent (2014)
Children1
EducationPomona College
Signature

Williamson is on the Board of Directors of the RESULTS organization, which works to end poverty in the United States and around the world.

In January 2019, Williamson launched her presidential bid for the Democratic primaries in the 2020 election. She ended her campaign on January 10, 2020. In March 2023, she announced her second presidential campaign for the 2024 election, challenging President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination.

Early life change

Williamson was born in Houston, Texas, in 1952.[5][6][7][8] Williamson studied theater and philosophy at Pomona College in Claremont, California for two years[7] before dropping out in her Junior year and moving to New York City to be a cabaret singer.[7][8] In 1979, Williamson returned to Houston, where she ran a metaphysical bookstore.[7]

Career change

In 1997 Williamson published her book Healing the Soul of America (hardcover originally titled The Healing of America) and began a more energetic political engagement. In this book, Williamson laid out plans to “transform the American political consciousness and encourage powerful citizen involvement to heal our society.”[9]

She has been a guest on television programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, and Real Time with Bill Maher. Her multiple appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show made her popular and earned her the nickname of Oprah Winfrey's "spiritual advisor".[10] In December 2006, a Newsweek magazine poll named her one of the fifty most influential baby boomers. She is known for being a popular teacher of A Course in Miracles, a non-religious self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy and has written many of her own books also.[11]

Williamson has been called a "New Age guru".[12] She has stated that she prefers to be called an author.[13]

2014 U.S. House race change

Williamson ran and lost in the election for the seat of California's 33rd congressional district in 2014.

Famous elected and public officials endorsed her campaign, including former Governors Jennifer Granholm and Jesse Ventura; former Congressmembers Dennis Kucinich and Alan Grayson; and Van Jones, among others.[14] Alanis Morissette wrote and performed her campaign theme song, entitled Today.[15]

2020 presidential campaign change

 
Williamson's 2020 logo

On August 2, 2018, The Guardian reported that she was exploring the possibility of a presidential run in 2020.[16] On January 28, 2019, Williamson formally announced her campaign in Los Angeles.[17] After only appearing in one of the debates and low poll numbers, Williamson ended her campaign on January 10, 2020.[18] She later endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders in February 2020.[19]

2024 presidential campaign change

 
A Marianne Williamson 2024 logo

Williamson began "working on putting a machine together" to run for president in 2024 visiting early primary states in early 2023.[20] She said in a January 2023 interview that she could run against Joe Biden in a presidential primary.[21] In late February 2023, she confirmed her plans to run for president and would make an announcement in early March.[22]

Williamson formally announced her second presidential campaign on March 4, 2023.[23]

She received 4% of the votes in the New Hampshire primary.[24] Following the New Hampshire primary, she held a volunteer Zoom meeting where she announced a decision to drop out of the race, but after the call was leaked to the X account OrganizerMemes, she decided to stay in. She officially dropped out on February 7, 2024 after receiving only 2.1% of the vote in the South Carolina presidential primary[25] and 2.9% of the vote in the Nevada primary[26] with no delegates.[27]

After the Michigan primary, Williamson decided to reenter the race when she received 3% of the vote, three weeks after ending her campaign.[28]

Personal life change

Williamson is Jewish, and was briefly married. In 1990, Williamson had her only child, India Emma.[29]

References change

  1. Knapp, Gwenn (2006). "StarBios Report for Marianne Williamson". MOTTASIA Inc. Archived from the original on 2006-10-18. Retrieved 2006-07-12.
  2. "Religion, Spirituality and Faith". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-02-05.
  3. "Our History". Project Angel Food. Archived from the original on 2018-01-19. Retrieved 2018-02-08.
  4. "History". The Peace Alliance. Retrieved 2018-02-08.
  5. Munson, Zack. "God Help Us" Archived 2015-11-21 at the Wayback Machine, The Weekly Standard, Vol. 19, No. 22. 2014 February 17
  6. Merl, Jean. "Marianne Williamson's spiritual path into political realm", Los Angeles Times, 2014 January 13
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Schindehette, Susan. "The Divine Miss W" Archived October 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, People, 1992 March. 09
  8. 8.0 8.1 Appelo, Tim. "Love Prophet" Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine, Entertainment Weekly, 1992 March 6
  9. "Healing the Soul of America - 20th Anniversary Edition". Simon and Schuster.
  10. Yadidi, Noa (February 28, 2019). "Marianne Williamson: Everything you need to know about the 2020 candidate". Axios. Archived from the original on February 28, 2019. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  11. "Marianne Williamson on What's Wrong—and Right—with the World". Oprah. December 29, 2012. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  12. Leibovich, Mark (April 24, 2014). "The Real House Candidates of Beverly Hills". New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on August 16, 2019. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  13. Robinson, John (May 20, 1993). "Marianne Williamson: A New Age Oracle Comes Down to Earth". The Boston Globe.
  14. "Marianne Williamson".
  15. "Alanis Morissette cuts campaign song for Calif. candidate". The Hill. May 6, 2014.
  16. Jacobs, Ben (2 August 2018). "New Age author Marianne Williamson 'looking into' 2020 presidential run" – via www.theguardian.com.
  17. Williamson, Marianne (28 January 2019). "Join me tonight as I formally announce my candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president".
  18. Astor, Maggie (January 10, 2019). "Marianne Williamson Drops Out Of 2020 Race". New York Times. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
  19. Grayer, Annie (February 23, 2020). "Marianne Williamson endorses Bernie Sanders for president". CNN. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  20. Micki Fahner (January 26, 2023). "Marianne Williamson eyeing another run for president". NBC News.
  21. Michael Scherer (January 26, 2023). "Potential Biden challenger Marianne Williamson heads to New Hampshire". The Washington Post.
  22. Vakil, Caroline (2023-02-23). "Marianne Williamson confirms she will run for president in 2024". The Hill. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  23. Weissert, Will (March 4, 2023). "Marianne Williamson opens long shot 2024 challenge to Biden". San Diego Union-Tribune. Associated Press. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  24. "New Hampshire presidential primary results". Associated Press. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
  25. "South Carolina Democratic Primary Election Results 2024: Joe Biden wins". NBC News. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
  26. "Nevada Presidential Primary Live Election Results 2024". NBC News. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  27. Gibson, Brittany (February 7, 2024). "Marianne Williamson ends her 2024 presidential run". Politico. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  28. Garrison, Joey (February 28, 2024). "Marianne Williamson says she is 'unsuspending' her longshot presidential campaign". USA Today. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
  29. "The New Age of Marianne Williamson Los Angeles Magazine". Los Angeles Magazine. May 27, 2014.

Other websites change