Tulsi Gabbard

Congresswoman from Hawaii
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Tulsi Gabbard dropped out of the presidential race on March 19, 2020. This page is no longer being updated.
Gabbard brings her experience as an Iraq War veteran to the presidential campaign and has staked out a distinctly anti-interventionist foreign policy. She was elected to Congress in 2012.
Hawaii Pacific University, B.S., 2009
April 12, 1981
Abraham Williams; divorced from Eduardo Tamayo
Hindu
Major, Hawaii National Guard, 2003-present;
Honolulu City Council, 2010-2012;
Legislative aide to Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, 2006-2009;
Hawaii State House, 2002-2004

GABBARD IN THE NEWS

Tulsi Gabbard Fast Facts
Updated 2:23 PM ET, Thu Apr 13, 2023
Here's a look at the life of former US Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. Gabbard represented Hawaii's 2nd District. Personal Birth date: April 12, 1981 Birth place: Leloaloa, American Samoa Birth name: Tulsi Gabbard Father: Mike Gabbard, Hawaii state senator Mother: Carol (Porter) Gabbard, former Hawaii Board of Education member Marriages: Abraham Williams (2015-present); Eduardo Tamayo (2002-2006, divorced) Education: Hawaii Pacific University, B.S.B.A., 2009 Military service: Hawaii Army National Guard, 2003-2020, Major; US Army Reserve, 2020-present, Lieutenant Colonel Religion: Hinduism Other Facts As a teenager, co-founded Healthy Hawai'i Coalition, an environmental non-profit. She is the first American Samoan congresswoman and first practicing Hindu member of the US Congress. She is an avid surfer. Timeline 2002 - At age 21, is elected to the Hawaii State House to represent West Oahu, making her the youngest woman ever elected to the state legislature. 2003 - Enlists in the Hawaii Army National Guard. She completes her basic training between legislative sessions. 2004-2005 - Gabbard's unit is activated, and she voluntarily deploys, serving with a field medical unit in Iraq. 2006-2009 - Legislative aide to Senator Daniel Akaka of Hawaii. 2007 - Graduates from the Accelerated Officer Candidate School at the Alabama Military Academy. This makes Gabbard the first woman in the Academy's 50-year history to earn the title of the distinguished honor graduate. 2008-2009 - Gabbard deploys to Kuwait, training counterterrorism units. November 2, 2010 - Is elected to the Honolulu City Council. 2011 - Founds the film production company, Kanu Productions. November 6, 2012 - Defeats David "Kawika" Crowley in the 2nd Congressional District of Hawaii for the US House of Representatives. January 22, 2013 - Elected vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. August 28, 2013 - Aniruddha Sherbow is apprehended in Tijuana, Mexico, after making threats against Gabbard that the FBI and US Capitol Police "deemed credible." Sherbow is later sentenced to 33 months in prison. October 12, 2015 - On CNN's "The Situation Room," Gabbard says she was disinvited from a Democratic presidential debate after voicing a call for more of them. October 12, 2015 - Is promoted by the Hawaii Army National Guard from captain to major at a ceremony in Hawaii. November 20, 2015 - Calls for the United States to let Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remain in power. February 28, 2016 - On NBC's "Meet the Press," Gabbard announces her decision to step down as DNC vice chair to endorse Bernie Sanders' presidential bid. November 21, 2016 - Meets with President-elect Donald Trump. "President-elect Trump asked me to meet with him about our current policies regarding Syria, our fight against terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS, as well as other foreign policy challenges we face," Gabbard says in a statement. January 25, 2017 - Gabbard tells CNN's Jake Tapper that she met with Assad during an unannounced, four-day trip to Syria. "When the opportunity arose to meet with him, I did so because I felt that it's important that if we profess to truly care about the Syrian people, about their suffering, then we've got to be able to meet with anyone that we need to if there is a possibility that we can achieve peace," Gabbard says. January 31, 2017 - Facing criticism, Gabbard issues a statement saying that she will personally pay for her trip to Syria. April 7, 2017 - Gabbard claims she's "skeptical" that Assad's regime was behind a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens in Syria though the President, secretary of state and Pentagon officials found that Assad's regime was responsible for the attack. November 21, 2018 - Gabbard refers to Trump as "Saudi Arabia's bitch" in a tweet after he issues a statement backing Saudi Arabia in the wake of the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. January 11, 2019 - Gabbard tells CNN's Van Jones she will run for president in 2020, during an interview slated to air on January 12. "There are a lot of reasons for me to make this decision. There are a lot of challenges that are facing the American people that I'm concerned about and that I want to help solve," she says. January 17, 2019 - Gabbard issues an apology for her past comments and actions against the LGBTQ community following CNN's earlier report that she had supported her father's anti-gay organization, The Alliance for Traditional Marriage. Gabbard had previously apologized in 2012 while running for Congress. January 20, 2019 - Gabbard says that she does not regret meeting with Assad in 2017, adding that American leaders must meet with foreign leaders "if we are serious about the pursuit of peace and securing our country." February 2, 2019 - Gabbard officially launches her 2020 presidential campaign at an event in Hawaii. October 17, 2019 - In a podcast interview, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton suggests that the Russians are "grooming" a current Democratic presidential candidate to run as a third-party and champion their interests. The comment appears to be directed at Gabbard, who has previously been accused of being boosted by Russia. In her response, Gabbard calls Clinton "the queen of warmongers," and concluded, "It's now clear that this primary is between you and me. Don't cowardly hide behind your proxies. Join the race directly." October 24, 2019 - Gabbard releases a campaign video announcing that she won't run for reelection to Congress in 2020. December 18, 2019 - Votes "present" on both articles of impeachment against Trump. January 22, 2020 - Gabbard files a defamation lawsuit against Clinton, alleging the former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee "lied" about Gabbard's ties to Russia. March 19, 2020 - Ends her 2020 presidential campaign and endorses former Vice President Joe Biden. May 27, 2020 - Drops the defamation lawsuit she filed against Clinton. October 11, 2022 - Gabbard announces that she is leaving the Democratic Party. She did not indicate which party she would be affiliated with moving forward but calls on "independent-minded Democrats" to join her in leaving the Party.
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STANCES ON THE ISSUES

climate crisis
Close Accordion Pane
Gabbard introduced legislation in 2017 that would end fossil fuel subsidies and transition the US to 100% clean energy by 2035. That bill would prohibit “exports of domestically produced crude oil and natural gas, including liquefied natural gas,” and would establish an “equitable transition fund” to provide retraining and other services in order to mitigate job losses in fossil fuel industries. She is not a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal, the broad plan to address renewable-energy infrastructure and climate change proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Gabbard denounced Trump’s 2017 decision to pull the US out of the Paris climate accord, a landmark 2015 deal on global warming targets. More on Gabbard’s climate crisis policy
economy
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Gabbard has called for overhauling the tax system, which she says unfairly benefits the rich. She has called Trump’s 2017 tax cuts a “failure,” saying they did not provide relief to working Americans or small businesses. She co-sponsored recently passed House legislation raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Gabbard opposed the 11-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal negotiated under Obama, which Trump withdrew from early in his term. She has also opposed the President’s trade war against China, which she argues has “damaged, not helped” our economy. More on Gabbard’s economic policy
education
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Gabbard is a co-sponsor of the House version of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ College for All Act, which would make all two- and four-year public colleges free. Gabbard has said on Twitter that she supports paying for the measure by “taxing Wall Street.” More on Gabbard’s education policy
gun violence
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Gabbard has backed or co-sponsored legislation to ban so-called assault weapons, high-capacity magazines and bump stocks. She also supports legislation to impose universal background checks on gun buyers. More on Gabbard’s gun violence policy
healthcare
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Gabbard is among the co-sponsors of the House version of “Medicare for All” legislation, which would create a national public health insurance plan, but she has said she does not want to eliminate private insurance. She is also a co-sponsor of legislation allowing drug imports, as well as empowering Medicare to negotiate prices with drug manufacturers. Gabbard told The Washington Post that she supports allowing the federal government to produce and sell generic drugs. More on Gabbard’s health care policy
immigration
Open Accordion Pane
Gabbard, who has made foreign policy a core issue of her candidacy, has blamed US intervention in Latin America for creating the instability that triggered the surge in migration across the southern US border. She’s a co-sponsor of several bills aimed at keeping migrant families together at the border. She also supports creating a path for undocumented immigrants to gain legal status, including some who were brought to the US as children. More on Gabbard’s immigration policy

LATEST POLITICAL NEWS

Devastation in Gaza as Israel wages war on Hamas
Updated 12:14 AM ET, Tue Mar 19, 2024
The Biden administration will meet with Israeli officials "soon" in Washington to discuss alternatives to a planned military ground offensive in Gaza's southern city of Rafah, where about 1.5 million people are sheltering after fleeing fighting in northern areas. In a call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Joe. Biden said Israel's plans for a major operation in Rafah could be catastrophic for Palestinian civilians, and asked the Israeli leader to send a delegation of military leaders to Washington to discuss alternatives. Netanyahu agreed to the request, and national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the meeting would be held at the end of this week or early next week. Biden's concerns over Israel’s planned Rafah offensive fell within three areas: Civilians sheltering in Rafah have nowhere safe to go Rafah is an entry point for critical humanitarian assistance Neighboring Egypt has voiced serious concerns about a potential military operation in the city. In the call, Netanyahu reiterated Israel's commitment to achieving its war goals, including eliminating Hamas and releasing hostages. Here are the other major developments in the conflict: "Fierce clashes" around Gaza's largest hospital: Hamas' military wing said its fighters engaged in “fierce clashes” with Israeli forces around Al-Shifa Medical Complex after Israel said it launched an incursion because the Gaza City hospital was being used by "senior Hamas terrorists." The Health Ministry said there were multiple casualties at the complex, where about 30,000 people were sheltering, and the head of the World Health Organization said "hospitals should never be battlegrounds."  Mass arrests at Al-Shifa: The IDF said it arrested over 200 "terror suspects" at Al-Shifa hospital. One was Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Ismail Al-Ghoul, the network said. The US is aware of the arrest and has asked Israel for more information, a State Department official said. Humanitarian crisis: A report published by the UN World Food Programme warned that sustained fighting and lack of humanitarian aid means famine is now "imminent in the northern governates" of Gaza between now and May. The top US humanitarian aid official called it "a horrific milestone" and urged Israel to open more land routes to deliver aid. A growing number of children are dying of starvation and dehydration, according to WHO and Palestinian officials, and doctors say malnutrition is complicating the recovery of children from their injuries. Hamas commander killed: Israel killed a senior Hamas commander in an airstrike last week, according to the White House. Marwan Issa was one of the planners of the October 7 attack against Israel, the IDF said last week. On Monday, an IDF spokesperson did not confirm the information but said Israeli forces attacked an underground compound used by senior Hamas officials on March 9. The IDF was not able to verify if Issa was killed, the spokesperson said. ##Catch Up## US forces destroyed seven anti-ship missiles, three drones, and three weapons storage containers in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Monday, according to US Central Command. The strike took place between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. (Sanaa time), CENTCOM said in a statement, calling it an act of "self-defense." "It was determined these weapons presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region," CENTCOM said. US forces have been conducting similar strikes in the area where tensions have heightened amid the Iran-backed militant groups' attack on commercial vessels passing through the key waterway. Earlier this month, a ballistic missile by the Houthis struck a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden, killing three crew members in its first fatal attack since October. The Biden administration will meet with Israeli officials “soon” in Washington to “discuss alternative approaches that would target key elements of Hamas and secure the Egypt-Gaza border without a major ground operation in Rafah,” the White House said in a statement. President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and voiced "deep concerns" over Israel's planned major operation in Gaza's southern city of Rafah, according to White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. It was the first known phone conversation between the leaders in over a month as their rift deepens. Biden asked Netanyahu to send a delegation of military leaders to Washington to discuss an alternative approach for going after Hamas in Rafah, to which Netanyahu agreed. The meeting could take place at the end of this week or early next week, Sullivan said. The leaders also discussed the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and hostage negotiations in Qatar, according to a White House statement on the call. Emphasis on northern Gaza: The leaders discussed “the urgent need” to increase the flow of aid to Gaza, especially in the north of the enclave. “The President stressed the urgent need to significantly increase the flow of lifesaving aid reaching those in need throughout Gaza, with special emphasis on the north,” the White House said. Malnutrition is complicating the recovery of children from their injuries in war-torn Gaza’s collapsing health care system, according to doctors. A growing number of children are dying of starvation and dehydration, according to the World Health Organization and Palestinian officials. Acute malnutrition doubled within one month among children in northern Gaza, according to UNICEF. Project Hope is a US-based health and humanitarian aid organization that operates in regions facing health crises. Its emergency teams report that 5%-15% of the children arriving at its two clinics in Deir Al-Balah and Rafah are malnourished. “Malnutrition amplifies the fragility of the situation,” Rondi Anderson of Project Hope said. “If you’re malnourished, you’re weak. A child’s immune system is weak, it gets infected, then the healing can’t happen, and it gets prolonged.” CNN spoke to multiple doctors who have been to Gaza since the war began. They reported seeing a lot of orthopedic injuries like limb injuries as well as burns, which present multiple layers of treatment. In these situations, a patient needs good pain management, nutrition, antibiotic care and fluid management. In Gaza, “all those four pillars are gone,” said Dr. Amber Alayyan from Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Adding a malnourished state to that means the healing is complicated, she added. “People who have really huge injuries are dying on the spot,” she said. “At the beginning, we were seeing people with really big abdominal injuries and thoracic injuries and things like that. And now, I think that I truly think that they’re dying on the spot, because we’re seeing fewer and fewer. You do see them, but they don’t necessarily make it to the ICU very quickly.” The top US humanitarian aid official called a report warning that famine is set to break out in northern Gaza sometime between now and May “a horrific milestone” and urged Israel to open more land routes to deliver aid into the enclave. “We continue to call on Israel to open more land routes into Gaza and reduce bottlenecks and inspection delays to get land crossings operating at full capacity, even as we pursue air and maritime options to supplement these land routes,” US Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power said in a statement. The report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said that the sustained fighting and lack of humanitarian aid means famine is now "imminent in the northern governates" of Gaza and "projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May 2024."  Power said the "catastrophic levels of hunger and malnutrition" detailed in the report "should be unimaginable in the current era, but for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, this is the reality." “With just two previous Famine declarations in the twenty-first century, this is a horrific milestone," she added. Doctors Without Borders recounted reports from its staff of heavy fighting around Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza as Israeli forces announced a military operation inside and around the facility on Monday. A staff member of the organization, also called Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), reported hearing “drones, tanks, and shelling” near the hospital in the early hours of Monday, witnessing a fire rising from Al-Shifa's main building.  Clashes were also reported around the organization's clinic and office in Gaza City where some staff and their families are sheltering. "We call on all warring parties to respect the grounds and perimeter of Al-Shifa Hospital and ensure the safety of medical personnel, patients, and civilians," MSF said in a statement. According to MSF staff, Israeli forces conducted “mass arrests in the area surrounding Al-Shifa,” and one of the organization’s staff members is currently unreachable. Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Monday that Israel has been waiting for the “right time to act” at Al-Shifa Hospital, in comments addressing Israel’s military operation there. Hagari said that the IDF arrested over 200 “terror suspects” who are “now under investigation.” The World Food Programme released a statement Monday on their Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report about food security in the Gaza Strip that found 88% of the region’s entire population faces “emergency or worse” food insecurity and warns that famine in northern Gaza is “imminent.” “People in Gaza are starving to death right now,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain. “The speed at which this man-made hunger and malnutrition crisis has ripped through Gaza is terrifying.”  The IPC report, which was written by a group of NGOs, governments and UN agencies warned that "between mid-March and mid-July, in the most likely scenario and under the assumption of an escalation of the conflict including a ground offensive in Rafah, half of the population of the Gaza Strip (1.11 million people) is expected to face catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5)." Here's what else we know: According to the report, for the 300,000 people that remain trapped in Nornhern Gaza, "famine is expected to arrive between now and May,” and one in three children in Gaza below the age of two are “acutely malnourished.”    Southern Gaza is also slowly nearing famine, according to the report, which found that the region may reach famine conditions by July.  The report goes on to say that the nearing famine could be halted if aid organizations are allowed full access to the Gaza Strip to bring food, water and other nutritional products to the civilian population, and that “a humanitarian ceasefire is necessary,” for this to occur. The World Health Organization's chief expressed concern about the situation in the Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza wheIfter anraeli military opeiaid on the medical complexThe organization's chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted the concerning situation in a post on X, saying: "Hospitals should never be battlegrounds."  "We are terribly worried about the situation at Al-Shifa Hospital in northern #Gaza, which is endangering health workers, patients and civilians," he consaidA displaced Palestinian, Hamada Abdelhadi told CNN that Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers have been “demolishing and excavating the outer edges of the hospital yards” as part of the operation which began during the early hours of Monday morning.  According to Ghebreyesus, the hospital had only recently managed to restore "minimal health services," warning that fighting there or "militarization of the facility jeopardize health services, access for ambulances, and delivery of life-saving supplies." 
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