Marianne Williamson’s campaign for the 2024 presidential election isn’t the most traditional — but then again, neither is she. After she suspended her campaign on Feb. 7 due to significant primary losses, she re-entered the race three weeks later, on Feb. 28. This time around, her focus is less on winning the election, and more on using her platform to share her progressive ideas.
Williamson, 72, was a spiritual leader before becoming a politician. She first came into the spotlight after appearing on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show to promote her first book A Return to Love, a self-help and spiritual guide. Williamson went on to write 14 more books; she’s since been labeled as a self-help guru and has gained a devoted following.
The 2024 presidential election isn’t Williamson’s first time on the campaign trail. In 2014, she ran as an independent candidate in California’s 33rd Congressional District in the House of Representatives, receiving 13% of the vote in the top-two primary election. She then ran for president in 2020 as a Democrat but ended her campaign before the primaries began.
“What is different this time? I’m not so different … But the country is different,” Williamson tells Her Campus in an exclusive interview, referencing the massive changes in the United States political climate since she last ran for election.
Williamson is often labeled as quirky, like when she suggested (in a since-deleted tweet) the “power of the mind” could deter a hurricane, or when she said she would “harness love” to defeat Donald Trump during her closing statement at the Democratic presidential debate in 2019. And yet, many Gen Zers seem to appreciate Williamson, which she largely attributes to her progressive approach toward many key political issues.
“The 21st-century mindset is transformational,” she says. “It’s not transactional; it’s not just geared toward addressing symptoms. … That’s the kind of thinker than I am. And that’s the kind of politics I’m discussing.” Williamson believes this mindset is what can make the country a better place for the generations now coming of age. “If we don’t have transformative politics, we’re not going to have a transformative change in this country — and I think we need one badly.”
To Williamson, the key to this transformational change is having public policies that serve young people. “We should be setting our young people up to win,” she says. “That’s how society should operate, so that our young can take society forward.”
Right now, she doesn’t see this as the case. “A man said to me, ‘The problem is these young people just don’t have enough respect for capitalism,’” Williamson says. “I laughed at him and said, ‘They have no capital. How do you expect them to have a respect for capitalism?’”
As the cost of higher education rises and new grads struggle to secure well-paying jobs, many Gen Zers are burdened with student loan debt and economic instability. President Joe Biden’s administration has already canceled $153 billion in federal student loan debt since his inauguration in 2021, and is attempting to do more under the Higher Education Act. If elected, Williamson also wants to use the Higher Education Act to eradicate student debt — all of it. “I think it’s morally wrong that these debts ever existed to begin with,” she says.
“Gen Z doesn’t need me to mobilize them; Gen Z mobilizes itself.”
Many Gen Zers also seem more open to Williamson because they feel seen by her. While this generation is often labeled as entitled, lazy, or spoiled, Williamson disagrees. “I don’t find the young people in America today [to be] any different than the young people in any generation — just bursting with exuberance and creativity and ideas,” she says. She especially appreciates how politically and socially engaged today’s young people are. “Gen Z doesn’t need me to mobilize them; Gen Z mobilizes itself.”
This generation of new and young voters certainly has plenty of reasons to mobilize itself. Most recently, the Israel-Hamas war has been a sticking point among many voters, primarily with Gen Zers, who have broadly disapproved of Biden’s handling of the war in the months leading up to the 2024 election. Williamson condemns the war. “I believe that there should be an immediate ceasefire, and an immediate release of the Israeli hostages, and an immediate conference on the architecture of a two-state solution,” Williamson says. “That is how the United States can best support and equally support peace, justice, security, and sovereignty for both peoples.”
Williamson also sides with progressive Gen Zers on the topic of reproductive rights and abortion. “We need to codify these rights,” she says.
With these major issues — and so many more — at stake, the 2024 presidential election is primed to be a pivotal moment in U.S. history that is expected to have long-lasting impacts on the country. Williamson recognizes this, and ultimately wants Gen Zers to vote for who they feel will best reflect their values and hopes for the future — even if it’s not her. “[Voters] should vote for whomever you feel proposes the set of policies that aligns with your deepest yearning,” she says. “What you should do is decide for yourself.”