Marianne Williamson campaign uses fundraising email to help rival 2020 Democratic candidate

Author and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson’s campaign used a fundraising email sent out Sunday to help one of her primary opponents garner enough donors to qualify for the next round of debates.

Williamson’s campaign email Sunday asked recipients to support former Sen. Mike Gravel (D-Alaska), who is roughly 10,000 individual donors short of the threshold to qualify for the next round of Democratic debates, slated to be held at the end of July.

{mosads}“You may not have heard of him because he hasn’t yet qualified for any debates,” the email reads, referring to Gravel. “But his voice is important.”

The email, signed by Williamson, touts Gravel’s body of work in Congress and “diverse and provocative” voice as reasons he should be on the debate stage next to her.

“Thanks to you, I’m on the debate stage. And that’s why today I’m using this platform, granted to me by you, to ask for your help,” the email states as it asks donors to consider giving Gravel a dollar to increase his individual donor count.

Candidates asking for donations on behalf of rivals, even within the same party, is highly unusual. Williamson’s email gained attention on social media Sunday evening.

.@marwilliamson sends a fundraising email for @MikeGravel, says the former Senator is 10,000 donors short of qualifying for the July debates pic.twitter.com/w2qnA010qY

— Johnny Verhovek (@JTHVerhovek) July 7, 2019

The email comes amid reports that Gravel’s campaign could soon come to an end, as it is seeking to donate leftover money.

Gravel responded to Williamson’s email on his behalf in a post on Twitter, showing a bump in campaign donations in the last hour.

the @marwilliamson bump is in full effect pic.twitter.com/SanBwqVogd

— Sen. Mike Gravel (@MikeGravel) July 7, 2019

Gravel has yet to gain traction in the crowded Democratic primary field. And while Williamson is not polling in the upper echelon of the field, she did have some noteworthy moments during the first round of debates last month.

“We’re very appreciative of Marianne’s fundraising efforts for us; she’s right that the Democratic debates need more diverse voices,” Gravel’s campaign said in a statement to The Hill. “Between twenty candidates and two nights there was little mention of imperialism and the role the United States plays in maintaining it – Marianne was one of the few to bring it up in mentioning the terrible history, and present, in places like Venezuela that the United States has created.  We look forward to hopefully, and if so in no small part thanks to her using her voice (with that wonderful Mid-Atlantic accent of hers), have Mike on the debate stage this month as a strong voice against the war policies of the American empire.”