Marianne Williamson launches bid for DNC chair

Former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson on Thursday launched a bid for chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), jumping into a crowded field of candidates vying to rebuild the party after its general election losses last month. 

“MAGA is a distinctly 21st century political movement and it will not be defeated by a 20th century tool kit. Data analysis, fundraising, field organizing, and beefed-up technology — while all are important — will not be enough to prepare the way for Democratic victory in 2024 and beyond. That’s why I have decided to run for DNC Chair this year,” Williamson wrote in a post on her Substack.

Williamson cited her time on the campaign trail during her 2020 and 2024 presidential bids, arguing her “experience of what went wrong has given me insight into what needs doing to make things right.”

The self-help author suspended her campaign before Iowa's Democratic caucus in 2020. This cycle, she suspended and then unsuspended her presidential campaign this February, but she remained a long-shot contender throughout.

Williamson joins a growing field of candidates jostling to replace current DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, who has held the role since 2021 and isn’t expected to try for another term. 

Among the other declared contenders are New York state Sen. James Skoufis (D), Minnesota Democratic Party Chair Ken Martin, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and former Homeland Security official Nate Snyder.

The DNC chair race comes as Democrats assess their 2024 losses and chart a new path forward through the 2026 midterms and beyond. 

The candidates have largely pitched promises to rebuild and reimagine the party in the years ahead, which is bracing for the GOP to take a trifecta of control in Washington — the White House and both chambers of Congress — next month.

"As Chairwoman, I will work to reinvent the party from the inside out. For if we want a new President in four years, and a new Congress in two, then we must immediately get about the task of creating a new party," Williamson wrote.

The election for the new party chair and other leadership positions within the DNC is slated to be on Feb. 1 — less than two weeks after President-elect Trump is inaugurated — during the party’s winter meeting at National Harbor, Md. The DNC will also host four forums next month for the candidates to make their cases to the sitting committee members.