Marianne Williamson drops out of 2020 presidential race

Marianne Williamson Image by Getty Images

By Josefin Dolsten January 10, 2020

(JTA) — Marianne Williamson has ended her run for president.

The Jewish writer and self-help guru made the announcement in a message to supporters on Friday, The New York Times reported.

“I stayed in the race to take advantage of every possible opportunity to share our message,” she said. “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.”

The longshot candidate had laid off her staff earlier this month and had not qualified for recent presidential debates. Among her campaign promises was paying reparations to African-Americans for slavery and creating a Department of Peace.

Williamson drew criticism for controversial comments on health, including calling mandatory vaccines “Orwellian” and calling clinical depression “a scam.” She later backtracked on the comments.

Williamson grew up in Houston attending Congregation Beth Yeshurun, a Conservative synagogue where she also went to Hebrew school. Last year, she spoke to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency about having recently attended High Holiday services at an Orthodox synagogue and visiting Israel many times in recent years.

The post Marianne Williamson drops out of 2020 presidential race appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO