Marianne Williamson Throws Her Hat Back In The Ring After Biden Debate Disaster

Marianne Williamson , who ran for president in 2020 and suspended her 2024 campaign in February , has officially reentered the race. In a video Tuesday, she announced that she’s seeking to replace President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee.

“President Biden deserves our respect, our compassion and our gratitude,” said Williamson in the video . “But the debate on Thursday night made it very clear that the Democrats need a new nominee on the ballot... We need to recalibrate, and we need to do so quickly.”

She added, “We need to have the conversation over the next two months that we should have been having over the last year and a half. A serious dialogue about what’s happening in this country and what it will take to beat Donald Trump. Today, I throw my hat in the ring.”

The self-help author argued voters are “desperate for change” in leadership and that the Democratic Party won’t defeat Trump “by repackaging the status quo,” which “has failed the majority of the American people,” but “by being honest about what’s really happening.”

She noted it’s “imperative” that a nomination “not be guided by media and party elites” who she claimed are “engineering” the result. Her comments follow a dire performance from Biden at last week’s presidential debate and reported scrambling by insiders for a replacement .

Williamson made progressive campaign promises Tuesday to treat climate change “as the global emergency that it, is,” to dismantle the War on Drugs by “building a world-class network of recovery for every addict,” and “to wage peace as effectively as we wage war.”

She argued in her announcement: “For we realize that a government of the people and by the people and for the people has been replaced — by a government of the donors, by the lobbyists and for the corporations. We the people will no longer tolerate this.”

Earlier Tuesday, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) became the first Democratic member of Congress to publicly call on Biden to drop out of the race as a result of the debate. A CNN flash poll on Thursday showed that 67% of viewers felt Trump performed better than Biden.

Pundits, including Bob Woodward , joined that growing chorus over the weekend.

While Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) didn’t officially agree with Doggett, he revealed Tuesday on MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes” that “there will be lots of discussion” among Democrats “and lots of people weighing in” about a potential November win.

“It’s got to happen quickly,” Raskin added on the show , “but I can guarantee you, Chris Hayes, there will be massive unity and focus on that task when we get to the end of the process, and it’s happening very quickly.”