Tulsi Gabbard
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Tulsi Gabbard (
/ˈtʌlsi ˈɡæbərd/ TUL-see GAB-ərd; born April 12, 1981) is an American politician,
United States Army Reserve officer, and political commentator who was the
U.S. representative for
Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021. Gabbard was the first
Samoan-American to become a voting member of
Congress. She was a
candidate for the
Democratic nomination in the
2020 United States presidential election,
[1][2] before announcing in October 2022 that she had left the Democratic Party to become an
independent.
[3][4]
In 2002, Gabbard was elected to the
Hawaii House of Representatives at the age of 21.
[5] Gabbard served in a field
medical unit of the
Hawaii Army National Guard while deployed to
Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and was stationed in
Kuwait from 2008 to 2009 as an
Army Military Police platoon leader.
[6][7][8] While a member of Congress, she served as a vice chair of the
Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2013 to 2016, and resigned to endorse
Bernie Sanders' campaign for the
2016 Democratic presidential nomination.
During her time in Congress, she frequently appeared on
Fox News and criticized the
Barack Obama administration for refusing to say that the real enemy of the United States is radical Islam or
Islamic extremism.
[9] During
her presidential campaign, she highlighted an opposition to military
interventionism,
[10][11] although she has called herself a "
hawk" on combatting terrorism.
[12] Her decision to meet
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and her skepticism of claims that he had
used chemical weapons[13][14] gave rise to public disagreement from mainstream Democrats.
[15] In March 2020, Gabbard ended her presidential candidacy, and endorsed
Joe Biden.
[16]
Since leaving the
House of Representatives on January 3, 2021,
[16] Gabbard has taken more conservative positions on issues such as abortion, foreign policy,
transgender rights, and border security.
[17][18] She has continued her frequent presence on Fox News, including serving as a fill-in host for
Tucker Carlson Tonight.
[19][20] In October 2022, Gabbard announced that she had left the Democratic Party altogether, citing their positions on foreign policy and social issues as reasons for her departure.
[21] Gabbard campaigned for several
Republican candidates in the 2022
midterm elections.
[22] She was also a featured speaker at the 2022 and 2024
Conservative Political Action Conferences (CPAC).
[23][24]