ABC(WASHINGTON) — After vowing to stay in the race following a mass lay-off her national campaign staff, Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson told ABC News in a phone interview that she is now weighing the decision to remain in the race, or officially suspend her campaign. “I’m not verklempt, but I’m thinking deeply,” Williamson said, adding that “there are decisions to be made.” “I ran for president because I wanted to elevate a certain conversation. The question at this point is, does my being a candidate elevate, or suppress my ability to articulate that conversation? What I’m doing now as a candidate is what I would do as president, I’m listening to people and I factor their wisdom into my decision making. That’s what’s I’m doing now,” she said. The 2020 hopeful, author and spiritual teacher explained that while her campaign is not on life support energetically, financially she does not have the kind of funds that her rival presidential candidates have. “There are candidates for instance who are spending over a million dollars in Iowa every week until the primary. I can’t compete with that,” Williamson admitted.
She attributed her campaign debt as one her biggest challenges affecting the outreach efforts needed to sustain her campaign.Williamson disputed reports that she laid off her entire campaign staff, telling ABC News that she now has five campaign staffers and “an army of very committed volunteers.” Patricia Ewing, Williamson’s former communications director who informed employees that they were being let go before closing the fiscal books at the end of 2019, maintains that all contractual relationships ended on Dec. 31. “The entire team was let go on December 31. That’s a fact. I did it. But if she wants to keep going, she can and I really hope that she does well in the future. I think it’s terrific that she has it in her to keep up with her campaign,” the former campaign aide told ABC News, adding that there was no staff rollover.
“If she choses to then move forward with some of those staffers because she decided to regroup, that’s completely up to her and I wish her all the best.” she continued. Wendy Zahler, Williamson’s newly-appointed Interim campaign manager and long-time advisor, tells ABC News the five campaign employees were rehired on Jan. 1.Despite a dwindling campaign, Williamson plans to use the resources she has left to focus her efforts in New Hampshire while she waits to see what unfolds. “I have never seen this as a fight. I see it as a stand that I’m taking,” Williamson said. “When I wrote to my supporters and said that we now have a skeletal campaigns staff but I was not getting out of the race because I feel that money should not be the sole determinant of my decision, I meant that. I got a lot of support for that. So, we’ll see what happens.” Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
