Former Hawaii governor asks Gabbard to resign

TULSI 2020

Tulsi Gabbard campaigned in New Hampshire while the top Democrats debated in Los Angeles.

While she continues her campaign for the Democratic nomination for POTUS, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is being asked to resign her Congressional seat. 2020

Gabbard, who is not running for reelection, is being asked by former Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who held the governorship from 2010 to 2014, to resign so the state can hold a special election to replace her.

As she campaigns for president, Gabbard has been largely absent from Congress, said Abercrombie in a news conference.

Abercrombie was a former member of Congress who resigned his seat when he ran for governor, so he speaks from experience.

“Trying to do my job in Washington and run for office, another office, in Hawaii was just too difficult. I couldn’t do it,” he said. “I had hoped maybe I could do it, and it became obvious that I couldn’t. So I resigned my seat.”

Abercrombie serves as co-chair of state Sen. Kai Kahele’s congressional campaign to succeed Gabbard. 

“Hawaiʻi is Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard’s home and her heart,” said T. Ilihia Gionson, Gabbard’s Hawaii communications director. “Her pursuit of the highest office in the land has not compromised her and her team’s commitment to serving the people of Hawaiʻi in her fourth term in Congress.”

"A whole lot of things are going to be going on and happening here and in Washington over the next year and to essentially deprive half the state of Hawaii of representation in that sense is unacceptable," Abercrombie told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser