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Tulsi Gabbard ends her campaign for President by endorsing Joe Biden |
What is most surprising is how long Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, was able to campaign while other, better known and better funded rivals folded earlier.
Gabbard suspended her campaign for president Thursday.and surprisingly endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for President. It was expected that Gabbard who throw her support to Bernie Sanders, who she backed in 2016.
"It's clear that Democratic primary voters have chosen, Vice President Joe Biden, to be the person who will take on President Trump in the general election," she said on a Twitter video.
"Although I may not agree with the Vice President on every issue, I know that he has a good heart and is motivated by his love for our country and the American people," seh continued. "I'm confident that he will lead our country guided by the spirit of aloha — respect and compassion — and thus help heal the divisiveness that has been tearing our country apart.
Gabbard, 38, announced her White House bid in January of last year and immediately made history as the first Samoan American, first Hindu American and the first female combat veteran to run for president.
Her departure leave only Biden and Sanders working for the Democratic nomination, two of the oldest candidates out of a field of 24 and one of the most diverse field of candidates put up by any US political party.
Gabbard was also one of three Asian American & Pacific Islander candidates to campaign for President at the same time. She joined California Sen. Kamala Harris and entrepreneur Andrew Yang in the historic primary campaign trail.
In addition, with Harris, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, to become part of most women candidates to run for president.
In her announcement on Thursday, she noted she would continue her military service in the Hawaii National Guard.
In addition, with Harris, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, to become part of most women candidates to run for president.
She has seven months left in her last term in the House of Representatives. Earlier, she had announced that she would not run for her Congressional District 2 seat.
Gabbard's best moment during the primary campaigning was in the second debate when she basically eviscerated Harris' record as California's Attorney General and San Francisco's District Attorney, wounding Harris' campaign that the California senator was never able to recover from.
During the campaign she touted her foreign policy credentials as a military veteran, called for bringing the troops home from the Middle East and ending the United States' "regime-change" wars.
When she first ran for Congress in 2012, she was dubbed a "rising star" in the Democratic Party, received the endorsement of then-President Obama.
Speculation then was that she would be a a good Presidential candidate in 2020 and was given a vice chairman position in the DNC, to boost her name recognition and give her more status within the party in preparation for a possible run for President.
Then came a series of political miscues that placed her as a Democratic outsider. The first was when she quit her DNC position in order to campaign for Bernie Sanders against Party favorite Hillary Clinton, a spat that continued into the 2019-2020 Presidential campaign when Clinton inferred that the Russians might be favoring Gabbard in order to have her run as a third-party candidate lessening the chances of a Democratic candidate.
Through her connections with the Hindu American community who gave her substantial financial support, she appears to support Prime Minister Modi, whose conservative -- some say fascist -- policies run counter to the Democrats' more liberal and moderate wing.
Then, in December of last year, her impeachment vote was a head-scratcher. Gabbard was the only Democrat to vote "present" while the rest of her party peers voted to impeach Trump.
Her endorsement Thursday of moderate Biden instead of the progressives' favorite Sanders might be an attempt to put herself in the Democrats' good graces for her political future. A run for Hawaii's Governorship or a campaign for Hawaii's other House seat against first-termer Ed Case is not out of the question.
Gabbard's best moment during the primary campaigning was in the second debate when she basically eviscerated Harris' record as California's Attorney General and San Francisco's District Attorney, wounding Harris' campaign that the California senator was never able to recover from.
When she first ran for Congress in 2012, she was dubbed a "rising star" in the Democratic Party, received the endorsement of then-President Obama.
Speculation then was that she would be a a good Presidential candidate in 2020 and was given a vice chairman position in the DNC, to boost her name recognition and give her more status within the party in preparation for a possible run for President.
Then came a series of political miscues that placed her as a Democratic outsider. The first was when she quit her DNC position in order to campaign for Bernie Sanders against Party favorite Hillary Clinton, a spat that continued into the 2019-2020 Presidential campaign when Clinton inferred that the Russians might be favoring Gabbard in order to have her run as a third-party candidate lessening the chances of a Democratic candidate.
Through her connections with the Hindu American community who gave her substantial financial support, she appears to support Prime Minister Modi, whose conservative -- some say fascist -- policies run counter to the Democrats' more liberal and moderate wing.
Then, in December of last year, her impeachment vote was a head-scratcher. Gabbard was the only Democrat to vote "present" while the rest of her party peers voted to impeach Trump.
Her endorsement Thursday of moderate Biden instead of the progressives' favorite Sanders might be an attempt to put herself in the Democrats' good graces for her political future. A run for Hawaii's Governorship or a campaign for Hawaii's other House seat against first-termer Ed Case is not out of the question.
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