Should Marianne Williamson Be on the Debate Stage?
The Democratic Party faces a tough balancing act: Alleviating concerns of elitism while also screening out far-flung candidates
At last Thursday’s Democratic presidential primary debate, one particular image seemed to capture viewers’ attention. On the left end of the stage, there was John Hickenlooper — a successful and popular two-term governor of a swing state who managed to win during otherwise difficult elections for Democrats — flanked by self-help author Marianne Williamson and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang. Only Hickenlooper had anything close to what we’d consider conventional qualifications for the presidency, but there he was, in no better position than the others.
Perhaps more notable was who wasn’t on the stage. Montana Governor Steve Bullock and Rep. Seth Moulton, for example, both failed to make the DNC’s polling or fundraising thresholds and were therefore forced to sit out the debate. Many in the politics and political science spheres found this whole arrangement to be an embarrassment for the Democratic Party. A stronger party, they argued, would never let someone like Williamson on the stage. And it would never let Bullock, a red-state governor, get nixed by arbitrary thresholds.
