玛丽安娜·威廉森是畅销书作家和精神领袖，她的白宫竞选是基于爱与和平的信息，周五她正式中止了总统竞选。

这一举动发生在她解雇了全部竞选人员一周后，尽管民主党人当时坚持说她不会结束2020年的竞选。她还说，志愿者的成就“令人惊叹”。

但在给支持者的一封信中，威廉森承认她将无法在早期投票的州获得足够的选票来继续竞争激烈的民主党竞选。她的退出使得13名候选人仍在争夺该党的提名。

“我竞选总统是为了帮助我们国家开拓另一个方向。我想讨论一些我觉得需要讨论的事情，否则就不会了。“我觉得我们已经做到了，”她写道，并补充说是时候“站起来”了。

在2019年1月发起竞选活动之前，威廉森最出名的是她的奥普拉·温弗瑞支持的自助书籍，比如爱的回归。这位67岁的作家在德克萨斯州长大，曾经形容自己是“上帝的婊子”

她将这一理念带入了2020年民主党初选。在她的公告视频中，她说美国必须“再次爱上这个国家可能意味着什么”，在竞选过程中，她反复提到唐纳德·特朗普的当选是一个精神匮乏国家的“症状”。

事实上，她的运动的核心是创建一个和平部。她提议，该部门将努力防止战争，减少暴力，解决白人至上和国内恐怖主义等问题。

尽管威廉森被认为是一个大有希望的候选人，但他比一些职业政治家走得更远，如卡马拉·哈里斯、柯尔斯顿·吉利布兰德和贝托·奥洛克。她有资格参加去年六场民主党辩论中的两场，并报告在2019年前三个季度筹集了600多万美元。

威廉森在民主党竞选中的第一次大爆发是在2019年6月的第一次辩论中。当被问及她作为总统的第一个行动是什么时，她说她会打电话给新西兰总理，告诉她“女朋友，你就是这样”这个短语很快成为一种病毒模因。

在第一次辩论后，她是谷歌搜索最多的候选人。在播出之前，她的团队已经发布了一份新闻稿，鼓励人们用瑜伽或更多禅宗活动来代替辩论主题的饮酒游戏。

在她的第二场也是最后一场辩论中，她严厉批评她的竞争对手过于关注政策，而不是与选民建立真正的联系。

她说:“如果你认为任何一个这种不理智的人会处理这位总统在这个国家提出的集体仇恨的黑暗心理力量，那么我担心民主党人会看到一些非常黑暗的日子。”。

2019年9月20日，玛丽安娜·威廉森在爱荷华州锡达拉皮兹的科尔学院举行的男女同性恋、双性恋和变性者总统论坛上发表讲话。民主党候选人于1月10日退出总统竞选。

在7月的辩论中，她还对种族和不平等问题做出了更尖锐的回答。当她将奴隶制赔偿描述为“偿还所欠债务”而非“财政援助”时，她赢得了掌声。

威廉森断言密歇根州弗林特的水危机绝不会发生在大多数白人富裕的社区，因此受到了一些赞扬。“这是美国社会黑暗的一部分——种族主义，偏执，”她说。

但是在头两次辩论之后，威廉森的竞选陷入了低迷。随着需求门槛的不断提高，她没有资格获得更多的服务。她也很少能获得超过1%的选票。

她也经常因为对科学和医学的评论而受到抨击。她曾称疫苗授权为“奥威尔式”——她后来为此道歉。她还反复质疑临床抑郁症的存在，并表示抗抑郁药被过度描述为“正常的人类绝望”。

威廉森可能会退出竞选，但她周五表示，她将全力支持最终的民主党提名人

“这个国家的情况正在迅速而戏剧性地发生变化，我相信我们中间正在觉醒，”她总结道。“良心政治仍然是可能的。是的...爱将获胜。"

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON DROPS OUT OF 2020 RACE. HERE'S A LOOK BACK AT HER CONTROVERSIAL WHITE HOUSE RUN

Marianne Williamson, the best-selling author and spiritual guru whose White House run was based on a message of love and peace, officially suspended her presidential campaign on Friday.

The move came a week after she laid off her entire campaign staff, although the Democrat insisted at the time that she was not going to be ending her 2020 bid. She also said it was "amazing" what you could accomplish with volunteers.

But in a message to supporters, Williamson acknowledged that she would not be able to gain enough votes in the early-voting states to continue on in the competitive Democratic race. Her exit leaves 13 candidates still vying for the party's nomination.

"I ran for president to help forge another direction for our country. I wanted to discuss things I felt needed to be discussed that otherwise were not. I feel that we have done that," she wrote, adding that it's time to "rise up."

Until she launched her campaign in January 2019, Williamson was mostly known for her Oprah Winfrey–endorsed self-help books, like A Return to Love. The 67-year-old author, who was raised in Texas, once described herself as a "bitch for God."

She carried that philosophy into the 2020 Democratic primary. In her announcement video, she said America has to "fall in love again with what this country can mean," and over the course of her campaign she repeatedly referred to Donald Trump's election as a "symptom" of a spiritually deficient country.

In fact, the centerpiece of her campaign was the creation of a Department of Peace. The department, she proposed, would work to prevent wars, reduce violence and tackle issues like white supremacy and domestic terrorism.

Despite being considered a long-shot candidate, Williamson made it further than some career politicians, such as Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand and Beto O'Rourke. She qualified for two of the six Democratic debates last year and reported raising more than $6 million in the first three quarters of 2019.

Williamson's first big splash in the Democratic race was during the first debate, in June 2019. Asked what her first action as president would be, she said she'd call the prime minister of New Zealand to tell her "Girlfriend, you are so on." The phrase quickly became a viral meme.

She was the most-searched candidate on Google following that first debate performance. Ahead of the broadcast, her team had sent a press release encouraging people to replace debate-themed drinking games with yoga or more Zen activities.

In her second, and final, debate performance she chastised her rivals for focusing so much on policies instead of forming a real connection with voters.

"If you think any of this wonkiness is going to deal with this dark psychic force of the collectivized hatred that this president is bringing up in this country, then I'm afraid that the Democrats are going to see some very dark days," she said.

Marianne Williamson speaks at a LGBTQ presidential forum at Coe College on September 20, 2019, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Democratic candidate left the presidential race on January 10.

At the July debate she also gave some sharper responses to questions on race and inequality. She was met with applause when she described slavery reparations as "payment of a debt that is owed" rather than "financial assistance."

Williamson garnered some praise after asserting that the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, would have never happened in a majority-white, rich community. "This is part of the dark underbelly of American society—the racism, the bigotry," she said.

But after the first two debates, Williamson's campaign took a downturn. She failed to qualify for any more of them as the requirement thresholds continued to rise. She also rarely managed to poll above 1 percent.

She also frequently came under fire for her comments on science and medicine. She once referred to the vaccine mandate as "Orwellian"—a remark she later apologized for. She also repeatedly questioned the existence of clinical depression and said antidepressants were being overprescribed for "normal human despair."

Williamson may be stepping back from the race, but she said on Friday that she would back the eventual Democratic nominee with "all my energy and in full support."

"Things are changing swiftly and dramatically in this country, and I have faith that something is awakening among us," she concluded. "A politics of conscience is still yet possible. And yes...love will prevail."