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Joe Biden has not yet decided on a new presidential candidacy in 2024. While the incumbent is expected to announce his campaign in April, it recently emerged that he is not yet 100% sure. Meanwhile, former candidate Marianne Williamson formally announced that she will seek the Democratic nomination and potentially compete with Biden.
Williamson is an internationally recognized progressive author who has written a total of 13 books over nearly 30 years, the most famous of which is A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, released in 1992. Although she may seem like an outsider, she already has experience in political campaigning.
She was a candidate in the 2020 presidential election and her performance in the debates gave her a good slice of popularity before the primaries begin. Despite the initial push, she ended her campaign in January and officially endorsed Bernie Sanders.
As for her policy positions, she has defined herself as a “pretty straight-line progressive democrat.” Her 2020 platform included Medicare for all, a $15 an hour minimum wage, the Green New Deal, student loan forgiveness and, most talked about at the time, $100 billion in reparations for slavery.
Marianne Williamson to challenge Biden for left in 2024
Also dubbed “Oprah’s spiritual guide,” she announced her candidacy Thursday, Feb. 23, in an interview. “I wouldn’t be running for president if I didn’t believe I could contribute to harnessing the collective sensibility that I feel is our greatest hope at this time,” Williamson told the Medill News Service, run by Northwestern University, in an exclusive interview. At the same time, she anticipated that she would make her “an important announcement” on Saturday, March 4.
She also criticized Biden and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). This time, she went after them for changing the order of the primaries by placing South Carolina as the first state on the calendar.
“How can you claim to be a champion of democracy when your own process is so undemocratic?” she said in the interview. While it had transpired that progressives would not challenge Biden, his candidacy is now the front-runner in the Democratic field for 2024 and possibly one of the only ones to go against the president.
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The current commander-in-chief has his party on tenterhooks over his decision. He is expected to formally announce his campaign in April, but it was recently reported that he is still not sure. For example, the announcement was formally scheduled for February but was delayed for a few months.
“While the belief among nearly everyone in Biden’s orbit is that he’ll ultimately give the all-clear, his indecision has resulted in an awkward deep-freeze across the party — in which some potential presidential aspirants and scores of major donors are strategizing and even developing a Plan B while trying to remain respectful and publicly supportive of the 80-year-old president,” POLITICO recently reported.
The last time a strong challenger threatened a Democratic president was in 1980, when Ted Kennedy made Jimmy Carter sweat more than he could handle and weakened him in the general election. On that occasion, he was defeated by Ronald Reagan by a wide margin.
Joaquín Núñez es licenciado en comunicación periodística por la Universidad Católica Argentina. Se especializa en el escenario internacional y en la política nacional norteamericana. Confeso hincha de Racing Club de Avellaneda. Contacto: [email protected] // Joaquín Núñez has a degree in journalistic communication from the Universidad Católica Argentina. He specializes in the international scene and national American politics. Confessed fan of Racing Club of Avellaneda. Contact: [email protected]