Ms. Williamson, a self-help author who dropped out of the Democratic presidential race this month, said she was not endorsing Mr. Yang per se, but wanted to help him get through the early primaries.

Marianne Williamson, the self-help author and spiritual adviser who exited the Democratic presidential race this month, said Thursday that she would support a fellow political outsider, Andrew Yang, in the upcoming Iowa caucuses to try to help him stay in the race beyond February.

In a three-part Instagram announcement in which she shared her opinions about the candidates still in the race, Ms. Williamson who delivered a campaign message centered around healing praised Mr. Yang for the breadth of his intellect and the expansiveness of his heart.

Andrews personality is like a tuning fork realigning us with something we need to retrieve, taking us back to a more innocent time, making us remember to chuckle, she said.

And while she noted that she was not endorsing anyone, she wrote: Im lending my support to Andrew in Iowa, hopefully to help him get past the early primaries & remind us not to take ourselves too seriously. We need that this year.

In a tweet later Thursday, Mr. Yang, who peppers his stump speech with jokes and has played basketball and crowd-surfed on the campaign trail, thanked Ms. Williamson and praised her approach. She is expected to appear with him and speak at a town hall event in Fairfield, Iowa, on Friday, his campaign said.

I have learned a lot from Marianne and continue to do so, tweeted Mr. Yang, who became friends with Ms. Williamson during their months on the campaign trail, sometimes exchanging phone calls and texts. She answers questions that many of us havent even thought to ask. Very grateful for her friendship and support in this important time.

In a statement provided to The New York Times on Thursday afternoon, Ms. Williamson emphasized she was not endorsing any presidential candidate at this time, adding that she supports all the progressive candidates.

Im appearing with Andrew Yang in Fairfield because I know the institutional obstructions to his candidacy and I want to see him continue in the race past Iowa, she said in the statement.

After a modest but steady rise in the polls, Mr. Yang has struggled to get beyond the mid-single digits in both national surveys and polls of the critical early voting states. Those struggles kept him off the debate stage this month in Iowa, a first for his campaign. He remains two qualifying polls short of making the cut for Februarys Democratic debate in New Hampshire, a state that he has said he believes he can do particularly well in and from which he will need to gain momentum to fuel his campaign into later stages of the race.

On Thursday, the billionaire Tom Steyer, whom Mr. Yang publicly supported at an earlier debate, argued for Mr. Yangs inclusion in the February contest.

You know who should be on the next debate stage with the rest of us? This guy, Mr. Steyer wrote on Twitter, adding a photo of himself and Mr. Yang.

Though Mr. Yang must earn just 5 percent support in forthcoming qualifying polls to make the February debate, he will need to amass 15 percent support in a congressional district to earn delegates that count toward winning the partys nomination a steep climb so close to the first nominating contests.

Aside from expressing her support for Mr. Yang, Ms. Williamson also used her Instagram posts to outline her views on the remaining field of Democratic candidates and on issues and characteristics that are important to her. The most important one now is a psychological issue, she said, one about which candidate will make the strongest emotional connection with the American electorate.

She mentioned Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders by name, calling them both political treasures who would make spectacular presidents. She specifically noted that she related to Elizabeth, as I related to Hillary, because I come from the same generation of women as they do.

But she also called Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders transactional politicians who come from a political school of thought dominated by a 20th-century perspective which holds that who a candidate is, isnt nearly as significant as what they say theyll do.

Thats a huge mistake, because the part of the brain that rationally analyzes an issue isnt always the part of the brain that decides who to vote for, she said, adding later: Its not a transactional politics, but a relational one, that will win in 2020.

Asked to clarify her stance on the two candidates, Ms. Williamson reiterated in an additional statement that she was a huge fan of Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders, but said they did not need my help at this point.

Im highly critical of how certain candidates have been pushed to the side, and I want to support the leveling of the playing field, she said.

Follow this link:
Marianne Williamson Says Shell Support Andrew Yang in Iowa - The New York Times