(A hill) — Marianne Williamson officially announced her 2024 bid to run again for the Democratic nomination for president on Saturday, pushing for the party to turn the page on President Biden.
“As of today, I am running for president of the United States,” she said.
Williamson, who last ran as the Democratic presidential nominee in 2020, has had it before confirmed last week in an interview with Medill News Service, which is affiliated with Northwestern University, that she planned to work. She made it official announcement at a scheduled event at Union Station in Washington, DC
The self-help author is the first Democrat to formally challenge President Biden, who has not formally announced his plans for 2024 but is expected to formally launch his re-election campaign next month.
Williamson recently said in an interview on “Good Morning New Hampshire” that Democratic voters may be balancing praise for Biden’s achievements with a desire for a new leader.
“You can appreciate what the president did in defeating the Republicans in 2020 and still feel like it’s time to move on,” she said.
But she is likely a longshot to win the Democratic nomination, just as she was in 2020.
She has struggled to raise money in 2020, and had to fire her campaign staff and suspend her campaign ahead of the first contest in the Democratic nomination process, the Iowa caucuses. At the time, she said she “didn’t want to get in the way” of a progressive candidate winning and endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who ultimately finished second to Biden in the nomination.
Political strategists said after Williamson confirmed she plans to run, they didn’t make a big deal about her candidacy, with one saying he expected the White House and the Democratic National Committee to “completely ignore” her candidacy.
But many voters have indicated in polls that they would prefer someone other than Biden as the Democratic nominee, with some citing his age as a concern. Biden is already the oldest president of the United States at 80 years old. He will be 82 when his second term begins, if he is re-elected, and 86 when it ends.
Still, top Democratic leaders have made it clear they support Biden, while some of his most prominent potential rivals do not appear will probably fight against him.
Williamson expressed some optimism about her chances in an online post over the weekend, saying many political watchers also didn’t expect former President Trump to win the 2016 election.
“After the 2016 election, it’s amazing that anyone thinks they can know who might win the presidency,” Williamson wrote. “And I’m not putting myself through it again to add to the conversation. I’m running for president to help close an aberrational chapter in our history and help usher in a new beginning.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.