Barring extraordinary circumstances, President Joe Biden will secure the Democratic presidential nomination in 2024. As for second place, Marianne Williamson is neck and neck with fellow candidate Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota — the only two non-incumbent Democrats still in the running. for the White House.
While Williamson received fewer votes than Biden and Phillips in recent New Hampshire primary on January 23, she received 4% of the vote, a significant increase from her 2020 margin.
Williamson, 71, a self-help author and former spiritual leader to Oprah, launched her bid for the White House in March 2023 after unsuccessfully running for president in 2020. She told the USA TODAY Network that she was campaigning to change an “unsustainable status quo” she had adopted. believes this hurts the middle class and creates despair for the American people.
In 1998, she founded Project Angel Food, a nonprofit organization that provides free meals to Los Angeles residents too ill to shop and cook for themselves. She also co-founded the Peace Alliance in 2004, which aims to “mobilize people into action to transform public systems and policies toward a culture of peace.”
Read more about Williamson’s campaign:Student debt, reparations and the environment: Marianne Williamson campaigns to end the ‘status quo’
Preparing the surveys: Find out who’s running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter’s Guide.
Williamson’s view on key questions
Climate change
Williamson warned that the country’s greatest crisis regarding climate change is “humanity’s state of mass denial that it exists on such a scale.” As president, the author would launch a large-scale effort to achieve 100% renewable energy in the United States and reduce carbon emissions by 2035. She also called for ending all new subsidies for fossil fuels and instead invest that money in wind and solar energy. among other energy initiatives. Williamson said she would ban all fracking operations in the United States and prioritize training workers to move from traditional energy sectors to new ones.
Crime and policing
The author and spiritual leader called America’s long-standing efforts to combat crime ineffective. Instead, she offers what she calls a holistic approach to tackling the underlying causes of crime. Williamson called culture and education “the most powerful preventive remedies” for American communities. As president, she would fund and increase the number of social workers, create “wraparound” programs to provide health care and other services to children, and fund law enforcement efforts to repair relationships with their communities.
Education
Williamson has called for free tuition for students at public colleges, including community colleges, four-year colleges and universities, and, historically, black colleges and universities. She also called for free tuition for certain professions, such as carpenters and plumbers. As president, the author would also cancel all federal and private student debt. She also says she would end “high-stakes” testing for students in an effort to “return teachers to the ability to practice the art of teaching.”
Economy
Williamson proposed an economic bill of rights for Americans, including the “right to a job that pays a living wage,” “the right to quality and affordable housing,” and other guarantees. Williamson also called for setting a national goal of eradicating poverty and expanding social protection programs for low-income people. She has proposed raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour and closing tax loopholes for big businesses, and she includes investments in health care programs, drug prices and other common costs in as part of its economic program.
Foreign policy
Williamson called for the creation of a U.S. Department of Peace, which would support efforts to end conflicts, coordinate humanitarian assistance, and create a U.S. Peace Academy working with the U.S. Military Academy. She pledged to increase the budget for the State Department’s peace efforts. She also proposed launching a 10-20 year plan to “transform a war economy into a peacetime economy,” which would involve redirecting current investments toward building schools, infrastructure and more. Again.
Health care
Williamson supports a Medicare for All-style health care system, a universal plan for Americans that would replace coverage from private health insurance companies. If elected president, she would push for lower prescription drug prices by continuing negotiations with pharmaceutical companies. But Williamson also called for a “comprehensive health plan,” in which the country would prioritize health and wellness initiatives at all levels. This involves promoting healthy diets, encouraging exercise and physical activity and tackling air and water pollution.
