Marianne Williamson, the Democratic presidential candidate well-known for her exceedingly eccentric pronouncements, announced on Friday that she is suspending her campaign for the White House.

Williamson, who consistently polled near the bottom of the Democratic primary field while attracting plenty of attention on the internet, said on Friday that she had run for president in order to "forge another direction for our country." Her campaign had amassed significant debt as she struggled with fundraising, and she had failed to qualify for the last four major Democratic debates.

Williamson, who is also a bestselling self-help author, told her supporters during the announcement: "These are not times to despair; they are simply times to rise up."

As late as last week, Williamson had claimed that "reports of the end of my campaign have been drastically exaggerated."