Marianne Williamson pledges to stay in 2020 race with 'volunteer' campaign staff
January 3, 2020
Self-help author Marianne Williamson pushed back Thursday night on suggestions her long-shot bid for president could be coming to an end, while confirming reports that she’d laid off her campaign staff.
Responding to a fan on Twitter expressing hope that she would remain in the race for the Democratic nomination, the spiritual guru replied that “reports of the end of my campaign have been drastically exaggerated today,” and linked to a statement on her campaign website asserting she was not going anywhere.
News that Williamson had laid off her political staff nationwide, including her campaign manager, began surfacing earlier in the day. And she acknowledged financial struggles, writing that “as of today, we cannot afford a traditional campaign staff.”
She continued: "I am not suspending my candidacy, however; a campaign not having a huge war chest should not be what determines its fate. The point of my candidacy has been to tell the heart’s truth and that does not cost money. Forging a new path for campaigns is going to be necessary, if we’re ever to forge a new path for our country.”
On Twitter, she argued that "money is not what determines one’s value and it’s not what should determine the legitimacy of one’s political campaign."
The onetime spiritual adviser to Oprah Winfrey became a viral sensation after a pair of memorable appearances in the first primary debates of the 2020 cycle. But she quickly came under harsh scrutiny for her past skepticism toward vaccines and antidepressants. She dismissed much of the criticism as a smear campaign.
Williamson has also tried to push back on the perception that she’s a “crystal woo woo lady” and expressed frustration after her debate performances that she was not being taken more seriously in the presidential race.
She’s struggled to break through polling-wise in a historically crowded field of candidates, and has rarely cracked 1 percent in Democratic National Committee-approved polls for months.
On Thursday, Williamson argued that “the conversation between candidate and voter is what matters most” and pledged to stay in the race for as long as she felt that connection, promoting her trademark message of “a politics of love.”
“In the meantime, it’s amazing what you can do with volunteers,” she concluded.
Source: https://www.politico.com/
