Williamson: From self-help guru to presidential hopeful
Democrat Marianne Williamson, 71, is an emerging presidential candidate from Houston. She has gained attention from the media as another politician, like former President Donald Trump, who has launched herself into the political field with a celebrity following rather than political experience.
As the 2024 election looms, Williamson is the only person besides U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota to challenge President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination. Additionally, her possible nomination would mark something that has only been seen in the past eight years when Trump won the presidency in 2016: somebody with little to no political or military experience with a chance at the presidency.
Williamson is known for her 14 selfhelp books, but she is best known as former spiritual adviser to talk-show host Oprah Winfrey. This is Williamson’s second time running for president, as she ran unsuccessfully for the 2020 Democratic nomination. Some turn away from Biden because of his age, 81, and may turn away from 71-year-old Williamson for the same reason.
As more members of Generation Z reach voting age, many young voters are turned off by the older candidates like Biden, Trump, who is 77, and Williamson as they fail to represent a younger U.S. population. Baby boomers make up 48% of Congress, while making up only 20.58% of the U.S. population, according to Statista. This lack of younger representation is something many Gen Z voters are willing to combat and could cost aging politicians votes.
While most of Williamson’s policies are similar to those of Biden and other Democrats, some stand out in a positive light for progressive voters, such as her push for an establishment of a “Federal Department of Peace,” reparations for the descendants of enslaved people and gun control. Williamson’s push for a federal Department of Peace aims toward her plan to establish a “Peace Academy,” modeled after military academies. Her proposal for reparations would support the selecting of a group of Black leaders to decide how to distribute a minimum $1 trillion in funds across 20 years. Finally, her gun control policy proposals seek to eliminate the sale of assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons, and ban bump stocks, high-capacity magazines and the 3D printing of firearms. Assault weapons would be used only as weapons of war and no longer sold to private citizens, according to her presidential campaigning website.
While some of Williamson’s policies reflect her journey with spirituality, her seemingly “zen” persona hasn’t stopped controversies. Some of Williamson’s former staff have spoken out against her, including three who told Politico in May that Williamson would throw her cellphone at them during outbursts and brought staff members to tears with her yelling. Williamson’s controversies don’t stop there. She publicly referred to clinical depression as a “scam” in 2019, causing many mental health experts to clap back at her. Williamson has since apologized for these comments, but it still hasn’t resolved the resulting waves of backlash and concerns that her views on mental health could hurt public health efforts and exacerbate stigma.
Ultimately, while Williamson has stuck out as a key character in the 2024 election, her chances of spoiling the nomination are highly unlikely — just 9% — but she still remains an interesting candidate as someone who has never held political office.