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Marianne Williamson Is Dropping Out of the 2020 Race

The self-help author who once called for a federal Department of Peace is no longer running for president.
Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson pauses while speaking at a the Faith, Politics and the Common Good Forum at Franklin Jr. High School, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)​

Marianne Williamson, the self-help author who once called for a federal Department of Peace, is no longer running for president.

Williamson announced the end of her campaign Friday in a message thanking her supporters. She said she'd accomplished her aim of taking “advantage of every possible effort to share our message.” That message largely centered around turning “love into a political force.”

Now, she said, she doesn’t want to get between the voters and the better-performing progressive candidates they may support once she moves on.

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“The ideas we discussed are important, and I hope they’ll find seed in other ways and in other campaigns,” Williamson said, noting in particular her platforms that waged “an agenda for peace and making humanity itself America’s greatest ally.”

She also mentioned her proposals for reparations and “initiating a season of moral repair.”

Williamson, who had laid off her entire campaign staff in December, was polling at less than 1% and hadn’t qualified for a Democratic debate since July. That’s when she went viral for saying her first act as president would be to call the prime minister of New Zealand to tell her “Girl, you are so on” when it comes to making the U.S. the best place to raise a child.

In true form, Williamson ended her campaign’s farewell message by saying that love would prevail.

Cover image: Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson pauses while speaking at a the Faith, Politics and the Common Good Forum at Franklin Jr. High School, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)