Author, activist and spiritual leader Marianne Williamson has become the first Democrat to announce a run for president in 2024.

Williamson, who also ran for the White House in 2020, confirmed Thursday to Northwestern University’s Medill News Service that she is running again. She plans to formally launch her campaign with a March 4 speech in Washington. 

“I wouldn’t be running for president if I didn’t believe I could contribute to harnessing the collective sensibility that I feel is our greatest hope at this time,” said Williamson, 70.

Democratic President Joe Biden has repeatedly said he intends to run for reelection but has not yet announced his candidacy. First lady Jill Biden told The Associated Press on Friday that there’s “pretty much” nothing left to do but figure out the time and place for the announcement.

“He says he’s not done," Dr. Biden told the AP in an interview. "He’s not finished what he’s started. And that’s what’s important.”

A progressive, Williamson told the Medill News Service the U.S. is in the midst of a threat of authoritarianism in which corporations, fossil fuel companies, gun manufacturers and others “suck the juice” out of democracy. 

“People who run the government are divided into two categories, those who either don’t care to fix it, or do not have the spine to fix it. And neither category should be running this country,” she said.

She also criticized the Democratic Party and Biden for altering the party’s presidential primary calendar so that South Carolina replaces Iowa as the first primary. Biden said he wanted the change to allow states with great racial diversity to have a bigger say in the nominees.

“How can you claim to be a champion of democracy when your own process is so undemocratic?” said Williamson, who would become both the first female president and first Jewish president if she wins.

Williamson has never served in public office. She has written 14 self-help books, four of which have appeared on The New York Times Best Sellers list, and she was a regular guest on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” where she became known as “Oprah’s spiritual adviser.”

A Houston native and California resident, Williamson also founded Project Angel Food, a delivery service for homebound people with AIDS in the Los Angeles area, and Peace Alliance, a nonprofit group focused on peacebuilding. 

She ran as an independent for a California congressional seat in 2014, finishing fourth among 18 candidates in the top-two primary.

In 2020, she launched a long-shot bid for president, promising to allocate $500 billion for reparations to African Americans and Native Americans, establish a U.S. Department of Peace and a U.S. Department of Children and Youth, make college tuition free, and pay all American adults a universal basic income of $1,000 a month until they were eligible for Social Security benefits.

Williamson, however, struggled to gain traction in the polls and only qualified for two debates. She dropped out of the race in January 2020 before the first primary and endorsed Bernie Sanders. 

While Williamson is the only announced Democratic candidate, the Republicans have four so far, including former President Donald Trump and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. Also running are entrepreneur and conservative political commentator Vivek Ramaswamy and former Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton.