‘Love will prevail’: Spiritual guru Marianne Williamson drops out of 2020 election race

Self-help author and activist Marianne Williamson has dropped out of the race to be the next US president, after running a longshot campaign advocating an “agenda for peace” and a “spiritual awakening” for America.

In a statement posted to her website on Friday, Williamson said she had run for president to “forge another direction” for the country and to bring topics to the agenda which otherwise would not be discussed.

The 67-year-old self-help guru and proponent of a more “mindful politics” was polling at around one percent support and had not qualified for the next Democratic debate – but said she stayed in the race to take advantage of every opportunity to share her message.

With a crowded Democratic field of candidates, Williamson said she recognized that the upcoming presidential primaries might be tightly-contested and she did not want to “get in the way of a progressive candidate” winning any of them. Earlier this month, she had laid off her campaign staff but said she would continue running without them.

She was often mocked for what many saw as her eccentric ideas, including advocating the formation of a US ‘Department of Peace.’ Williamson raised some eyebrows during a July debate when she said US President Donald Trump had harnessed the “dark psychic force of collectivized hatred.”

During her campaign she also released plans on “racial reconciliation and healing” and was a strong supporter of reparations for slavery, explaining that, on an “emotional, psychological and spiritual” level, the country couldn’t afford not to pay them. 

“A politics of conscience is still yet possible. And yes….love will prevail,” Williamson wrote at the end of her statement on Friday.

Williamson was also unsuccessful in her 2014 campaign for California's 33rd congressional district seat.

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