Marianne Williamson drops out of longshot 2024 Democratic presidential primary race

Self-help guru Marianne Williamson is suspending her second longshot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. 

The 71-year-old White House hopeful announced she was dropping out in a campaign email to supporters Wednesday, one day after her third-place finish in the Nevada primary.

She received 2.9% of the vote and finished behind President Biden and the “none of these candidates” option. 

“First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you don’t win :)…” Williamson’s concession note began. 

“I appreciate greatly all the incredible people who accompanied me on our political journey over the last ten months,” she added.

“While the level of our failure is obvious to all, a level of success is real nonetheless.”

Williamson’s national polling peaked at 9% last October, after Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced that he would bow out of the Democratic primary and run as an independent, and fell to 6.5% this month, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls. 

The one-time adviser to Oprah Winfrey said “processing” her experience on what was her second White House run — after a failed 2020 campaign for the Democratic nomination — will be “an ongoing journey.” 

“In the final analysis I think the only real failure in life is that which we fail to learn from,” Williamson said. “I have learned so much already and I know that I will learn more. Processing this experience will itself be an ongoing journey, and forgiveness will guide me as I move through it.” 

“I will not allow the mental torment of all the woulda shoulda couldas to tie me to the past, but rather I will keep my eye on the larger story. In ways I cannot yet see, none of this will have been in vain. There are hidden gifts that have only just begun to reveal themselves.”

The best-selling author and motivational speaker noted that her campaign website will remain operational to allow “future candidates” to peruse her platform and “take what works for them, drinking from the well of information we prepared.” 

Reparations for the descendants of slaves, universal basic income and moving to 100% renewable energy were among the ideas Williamson advocated for on the campaign trail.

Her message concluded by telling supporters that all future donations she receives will go toward paying off her campaign debt.

In 2020, Williamson was accused of burning through what remained of her campaign cash and reneging on payments owed to some of her creditors.