“MAGA is a distinctly 21st century political movement and it will not be defeated by a 20th century tool kit. Data analysis, fundraising, field organizing, and beefed-up technology — while all are important — will not be enough to prepare the way for Democratic victory in 2024 and beyond. That’s why I have decided to run for DNC Chair this year,” Williamson wrote in a post on her Substack on Thursday morning. 

Williamson ran for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2020 and 2024. In 2020, she suspended her primary campaign before the Iowa Democratic caucus, but in 2024, Williamson ran and suspended her long-shot bid before unsuspending it and remaining in the race for the nomination.

The 72-year-old said her time on the campaign trail has prepared her for the role after speaking with Democratic voters about what they’d like to see from the party.

“I’ve traveled extensively throughout this country, and I’ve seen how much pain there is out there,” she said. “I’ve been up close and personal with people who didn’t have healthcare, who couldn’t survive on just one job, who were so depressed about so many of the conditions in their lives that were, in fact, at least indirectly due to bad public policy, and too many of them didn’t feel like the Democratic Party had their back.”

However, Williamson has a tenuous relationship with the DNC, previously knocking the committee for not encouraging a competitive primary process in 2024 even as concerns over President Joe Biden‘s age and mental acuity grew.

Williamson is the latest candidate to enter the race to succeed outgoing DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison. She joins Minnesota Democratic Party Chairman Ken Martin, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, New York state Sen. James Skoufis, former Maryland Senate candidate Robert Houton, Wisconsin Party Chairman Ben Wikler, and former Homeland Security official Nate Snyder.

The leadership elections for the DNC are slated to take place on Feb. 2 during the party’s winter meeting at National Harbor, Maryland. The change in leadership comes as candidates running for the position say they need to learn what went wrong for the party in 2024. 

“We need to know what it was that made people feel that their wallets were more important than their pain. We need to understand what it is that has made people emotionally and psychologically disconnect from a sense that the Democratic Party was part of a great legacy in American history,” Williamson said in her video.