MANCHESTER, N.H. – White House hopeful Marianne Williamson doesn’t care about precedent or political history as she takes aim at President Biden and the Democratic National Committee.
The best-selling author and spiritual adviser, who’s making her second straight bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, charges that moves this year by the DNC and the president fly in the face of “democratic principle.”
The DNC is fully backing behind Biden as the president campaigns for a second four-year term in the White House and at its winter meeting in February unanimously passed a resolution committing its “full and complete support” for the re-election of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. And the DNC has said there will be no primary debates between Biden and his two nationally known challengers, Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the environmental lawyer and high-profile vaccine critic, who’s a scion of arguably the nation’s most famous family political dynasty.
“I don’t think it’s good for democracy. I think it’s very important that the Democratic electorate get a chance to weigh in. I look at the campaign season as a long job interview process and the voters should have a chance to interview all of the candidates for the job and that does include the president,” Williamson argued Monday in an interview with Fox News Digital.
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President Joe Biden speaks at the Democratic National Committee Winter Meeting, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
While Williamson, Kennedy, and others in the party are criticizing the DNC and Biden, there’s political precedent for their move. No incumbent president has engaged in a primary debates in modern times. Last presidential election cycle, the Republican National Committee didn’t schedule any primary debates as then-President Donald Trump faced a couple of long-shot GOP challengers.
“I do think they should recognize that people are watching. And people don’t like this,” Williamson emphasized as she pointed towards the DNC. “It’s kind of outrageous how overt they are about absolutely admitting that they are doing what they can in the primary season to support the president.”
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Williamson stands at 10% support in the latest Fox News national poll in the Democratic presidential nomination race, with Kennedy at 17% and the president at 64%. While he’s the commanding front-runner for his party’s nomination, the 80-year-old Biden has faced plenty of concerns from Democrats over his age and physical and mental stamina.
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“It’s just against democratic principle. Those of us that are running should be heard. And it’s not even just what we deserve — those of us that are running. It’s what the people deserve. It’s what the voters deserve,” Williamson said.
Williamson was interviewed as she campaigned in New Hampshire, the state that for the past century held the first presidential primary in both major parties nominating calendars.
“I think anyone running for president has a game plan which is New Hampshire, New Hampshire, New Hampshire, because New Hampshire,” she told Fox News.
While the Republican National Committee didn’t make any changes to their nominating schedule, the DNC made major alterations. The party voted earlier this year on a proposal by Biden to oust Iowa — whose caucuses have topped the calendar — and New Hampshire from their lead-off positions. New Hampshire will now vote second in the DNC’s calendar, along with Nevada, three days after South Carolina, under the DNC’s new schedule.
The DNC changed the nominating calendar in an effort to reflect more diversity in the Democratic Party. But New Hampshire is unlikely to agree to the DNC’s primary date — due to a state law that mandates the state hold the first presidential primary. That would set up an earlier than scheduled unsanctioned primary in New Hampshire — a contest that the president would probably avoid. Biden’s potential absence could allow Kennedy or Williamson to cause some political headaches for the president’s re-election. Iowa may also move up it’s contest.
“The American people are pesky group — aren’t we. So it’s pretty typically traditionally American to not like that kind of manipulation. To not like that kind of control. So, I’m not surprised that these states are saying ‘wait a minute, we’re not going to just do what the DNC says.’ There’s something bigger at stake here than what the DNC wants and that’s the democratic process itself,” Williamson charged.
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stands alongside a bust of his late uncle, President John F. Kennedy, outside of city hall in Nashua, New Hampshire, on June 20, 2023. (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)
Williamson entered the race a month and a half ahead of Kennedy, but he’s topped her in many recent polls. “I think that’s beginning to even out now,” Williamson said as she pointed to the latest survey in New Hampshire, which indicated they were “neck and neck.”
“I think the clouds are clearing and people are seeing more clearly what each of us stands for on the issues,” Williamson added. And she said that Kennedy’s stance on some issues and his vaccine skepticism as “obviously” out-of-line with many Democratic voters.
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Asked about her standing in the polls, Williamson said, “This is very early in the process and if you look at Obama at this point in the process, when he first ran for president, or even Bernie, I’m right in there with where people are at the beginning.”
And pointing to what she charged was “manipulation brought about by the DNC” and “smears,” she said “I think I’m actually doing pretty good.”
“When I’m actually talking to people… I just do fine… Because I am talking about the actual visceral experience of the American people,” she added.
“I am saying what a majority of American say they want, which she said was universal health care and “much more serious robust efforts made against the ravages of climate change.”
Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson is interviewed by Fox News Digital on July 3, 2023 in Manchester, New Hampshire (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)
Last week Williamson named New Hampshire based progressive activist Carlos Cardona as her campaign manager — her third since launching her bid four months ago.
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Asked what the turnover of managers says about her campaign, she answered, “It says nothing. When you give as much scrutiny to everybody else’s campaign as to mine, then we can start talking.”
“The first one was an interim. The second one should have been named an interim. These are both still friends. You can look at their social media and that’s clear. It takes a while that you get it all together that you have the right team. But this kind of lens is purposeful — this narrative that’s created to make things unlike what they actually are,” Williamson claimed.
