Marianne Williamson, brand-name Democrat, announces challenge to Biden, while Larry Hogan says he won’t run for Republican nomination

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President Joe Biden has not yet filed for reelection, although many expect him to do so within a few weeks. But a 2020 Democrat candidate of some notoriety has filed: Marianne Williamson, author, public speaker, progressive Democrat and spiritual adviser.

In her 2024 launch speech on Saturday, given at Union Station in Washington, D.C., Williamson said the country needs a disrupter.

“The status quo will not disrupt itself. That’s our job. We know that this country is plagued by many challenges now, not the least of which is hatred and division, which is greater than any of us have experienced in national life. It is our job to create a vision of justice and love that is so powerful that it will override the forces of hatred and injustice and fear,” Williamson said in her speech in the stately presidential suite at Washington’s railway station.

Williamson, age 70, is the former spiritual adviser to Oprah Winfrey. PBS has already dismissed her challenge to Biden, saying it will be “only token primary opposition — a testament to how strongly national Democrats are united behind Biden.”

During her first presidential bid, launched in 2018, she dropped out of the race on Jan. 10, 2020, saying she would support the eventual Democrat Party nominee, but by Feb. 23, she announced her endorsement for Bernie Sanders during a rally in Austin, Texas.

Williamson has supported policies that include setting aside $100 billion for reparations for slavery, universal health care in a Medicare model for everyone, creating a “Department of Peace,” and supporting the so-called Green New Deal, which includes dramatically reducing carbon emissions and investing hundreds of billions of dollars into a clean-energy economy. She also supports progressive ideas about illegal immigration, and would create more opportunities for people to become citizens, even if they entered the country illegally.

Also this weekend, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said he will not enter the race for the republican nomination for president.

Hogan has been a harsh critic of former President Donald Trump, but said that too many big-name Republicans are already in the race or will soon be in the race, and he doesn’t believe he could get enough funding or traction.

“I would never run for president to sell books or position myself for a Cabinet role,”Hogan wrote in The New York Times. “I have long said that I care more about ensuring a future for the Republican Party than securing my own future in the Republican Party. And that is why I will not be seeking the Republican nomination for president.”

The presidential primaries and caucuses start in less than one year. While Trump has announced, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is on a book tour for his new book, “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival,” which many view as a soft opening for an eventual announcement. And Nikki Haley announced that she will be a contender for the Republican nomination.

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