Tulsi Gabbard

Tulsi Gabbard
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii's 2nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2013
Preceded by	Mazie Hirono
Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee
In office January 22, 2013 – February 27, 2016
Chair	Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Preceded by	Mike Honda
Succeeded by	Grace Meng
Member of the Honolulu City Council from the 6th district
In office January 2, 2011 – August 16, 2012
Preceded by	Rod Tam
Succeeded by	Carol Fukunaga
Member of the Hawaii House of Representatives from the 42nd district
In office 2002–2004
Preceded by	Mark Moses
Succeeded by	Rida Cabanilla
Personal details
Born	(1981-04-12) April 12, 1981 Leloaloa, American Samoa, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Eduardo Tamayo ​ ​ (m. 2002; div. 2006)​ Abraham Williams ​ (m. 2015)​
Relatives	Mike Gabbard (father)
Education	Hawaii Pacific University (BSBA)
Signature
Website	House website
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	2003–present
Rank	Major
Unit	Hawaii Army National Guard
Battles/wars	Iraq War

Tulsi Gabbard (/ˈtʌlsi ˈɡæbərd/; born April 12, 1981) is an American politician and military combat veteran serving as the U.S. Representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Elected in 2012, she became the first Samoan American and the first Hindu member of the United States Congress.

Gabbard served in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 2002 to 2004. When she was elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives at age 21, she was the youngest woman to be elected to a U.S. state legislature. Gabbard served in a field medical unit of the Hawaii Army National Guard in a combat zone in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and was deployed to Kuwait from 2008 to 2009.

Gabbard was a Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2013 to 2016, when she resigned to endorse Senator Bernie Sanders for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.

Gabbard opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership. She is critical of interventionism in Iraq, Libya, Venezuela, and Syria. She supports abortion rights, Medicare for All, and same-sex marriage.

Gabbard is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 2020. She is the first Samoan to run for President.

Early life and education

Gabbard was born on April 12, 1981, in Leloaloa, Maoputasi County, on American Samoa's main island of Tutuila. She was the fourth of five children born to Mike Gabbard and his wife Carol (née Porter) Gabbard. In 1983, when Gabbard was two years old, her family moved to Hawaii. Her father is a member of the Hawaii Senate.

Gabbard was raised in a multicultural and multireligious household. Her father is of Samoan and European ancestry and an active lector at his Catholic church. Her mother, who was born in Decatur, Indiana, is of German descent and a practicing Hindu. Gabbard chose Hinduism as her religion while she was a teenager.

Gabbard was home-schooled through high school except for two years at a Christian missionary academy for girls in the Philippines. She graduated from Hawaii Pacific University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration in 2009.

Military service

Gabbard at the ceremony of her promotion to major on October 12, 2015

In April 2003, while serving in the State Legislature, Gabbard enlisted in the Hawaii Army National Guard. In July 2004 she was deployed for a 12-month tour in Iraq, serving as a specialist with the Medical Company, 29th Support Battalion, 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Gabbard served at Logistical Support Area Anaconda in Iraq, completing her tour in 2005. Anaconda had the nickname "Mortaritaville" because of the high frequency of Iraqi insurgent mortars targeting it.

In 2006 Gabbard began serving as a legislative aide for U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka in Washington, D.C., and in March 2007 she graduated from the Accelerated Officer Candidate School at the Alabama Military Academy. Gabbard was the first woman to finish as the distinguished honor graduate in the Academy's 50-year history. She was commissioned as a second lieutenant and assigned to the 29th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Hawaii Army National Guard, this time to serve as an Army Military Police officer. She was deployed to Kuwait from 2008 to 2009. There, as a primary trainer for the Kuwait National Guard, she was among the first women to ever set foot inside a Kuwait military facility. She was also the first woman to be honored for outstanding work in its training program.

On October 12, 2015, Gabbard was promoted from captain to major at a ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Akaka administered the oath of office to the new major. She continues to serve as a major in the Hawaii Army National Guard.

On August 7, 2018, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that the Hawaii Army National Guard had instructed Gabbard that a video of her in uniform on her VoteTulsi Facebook page did not comply with military ethics rules. Gabbard's campaign removed the video and added a disclaimer to the website's banner image of Gabbard in uniform in a veterans' cemetery that the image does not imply an endorsement from the military. A similar situation had happened during a previous Gabbard congressional campaign. A spokeswoman for Gabbard said the campaign would work closely with the Department of Defense to ensure compliance with all regulations.

Military decorations and badges

Badge	Combat Medical Badge
1st Row Awards	Meritorious Service Medal
2nd Row Awards	Army Commendation Medal w/Oak Leaf Cluster	Army Achievement Medal w/Oak Leaf Cluster
3rd Row Awards	Good Conduct Medal	National Defense Service Medal	Iraq Campaign Medal w/Campaign star
4th Row Awards	Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal	Global War On Terrorism Service Medal	Armed Forces Reserve Medal w/ Bronze Hourglass Device
5th Row Awards	Army Service Ribbon	Army Overseas Service Ribbon	Army Reserve Components Overseas Training Ribbon
Foreign Awards	German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency (Gold)

Political career

Main article: Electoral history of Tulsi Gabbard

Hawaii House of Representatives (2002–2004)

In 2002, after redistricting, Gabbard (as Tulsi Tamayo) ran to represent the 42nd House District of the Hawaii House of Representatives. She won the four-candidate Democratic primary with a plurality of 48% of the vote over Rida Cabanilla. Gabbard then defeated Republican Alfonso Jimenez in the general election, 65%–35%. At the age of 21 Gabbard became the youngest legislator ever elected in Hawaii's history and the youngest woman ever elected to a U.S. state legislature.

In 2004 Gabbard filed for reelection, but then volunteered for Army National Guard service in Iraq. Cabanilla, who filed to run against her, called on the incumbent to resign because she would not be able to represent her district from Iraq. Gabbard chose not to campaign for a second term, and Cabanilla won the Democratic primary, 64%–25%.

Honolulu City Council (2011–2012)

After returning home from her second deployment to the Middle East in 2009, Gabbard ran for a seat on the Honolulu City Council. Incumbent City Councilman Rod Tam, of the 6th district, decided to retire in order to run for Mayor of Honolulu. In the ten-candidate nonpartisan open primary in September 2010, Gabbard finished first with 33% of the vote. In the November 2 runoff election she defeated Sesnita Moepono, 58%–42%.

As a Honolulu City Councilwoman, Gabbard introduced a measure to help food truck vendors by loosening parking restrictions. She also introduced Bill 54, a measure that authorized city workers to confiscate personal belongings stored on public property with 24 hours' notice to its owner. After overcoming opposition from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Occupy Hawai'i, Bill 54 passed and became City Ordinance 1129.

On April 30, 2011, Gabbard informed her constituents that she was resuming the use of her birth name, Tulsi Gabbard, and that there would be no cost to city taxpayers for reprinting City Council materials containing her name. She resigned from the council on August 16, 2012, to focus on her congressional campaign.

United States House of Representatives (2013–present)

2012 election

Main article: 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Hawaii § District 2

Gabbard in 2012

In early 2011 Mazie Hirono, the incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district, announced that she would run for the United States Senate. In May 2011 Gabbard announced her candidacy for Hirono's House of Representatives seat. She was endorsed by the Sierra Club, Emily's List and VoteVets.org. The Democratic Mayor of Honolulu, Mufi Hannemann, was the best-known candidate in the six-way primary, but Gabbard won with 62,882 votes (55% of the total); the Honolulu Star-Advertiser called her win an "improbable rise from a distant underdog to victory." Gabbard resigned from the City Council on August 16 to prevent the cost of holding a special election.

As the Democratic nominee, Gabbard traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina, and spoke at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. She credited grassroots support as the reason for her come-from-behind win in the primary. Gabbard won the general election on November 6, 2012, defeating Republican Kawika Crowley, by 168,503 to 40,707 votes (80.6%−19.4%), becoming the first Samoan-American and first Hindu member of Congress.

In December 2012 Gabbard applied to be considered for appointment to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of Daniel Inouye, but despite support from prominent mainland Democrats, she was not among the three candidates the Democratic Party of Hawaii selected.

First term (113th Congress)

Gabbard speaks at the 135th National Guard Association of the United States conference in 2013

In March 2013, Gabbard introduced the Helping Heroes Fly Act, seeking to improve airport security screenings for severely wounded veterans. It passed Congress and was signed into law by President Barack Obama. She also led an effort to pass legislation to assist victims of military sexual trauma.

Second term (114th Congress)

Main article: 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Hawaii § District 2

Gabbard was reelected on November 8, 2014, defeating Crowley again, by 142,010 to 33,630 votes (78.7%–18.6%); Libertarian candidate Joe Kent garnered 4,693 votes (2.6%). PACs contributed $434,000 to Gabbard's 2014 campaign.

Along with Senator Hirono, Gabbard introduced a bill to award Filipino and Filipino American veterans who fought in World War II the Congressional Gold Medal. The bill passed Congress and was signed into law by Obama in December 2016.

Gabbard also introduced Talia's Law, to prevent child abuse and neglect on military bases. It was passed by Congress and signed into law by Obama in December 2016.

Third term (115th Congress)

Main article: 2016 United States House of Representatives elections in Hawaii § District 2

Gabbard was reelected on November 8, 2016, defeating Republican nominee Angela Kaaihue by 170,848 to 39,668 votes (81.2%–18.8%). PACs contributed $465,000 to her 2016 campaign.

Fourth term (116th Congress)

Main article: 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Hawaii § District 2

In May 2017 Gabbard announced that she had stopped accepting money from the defense industry and from PACs, after having accepted $111,500 in campaign donations from defense industry companies like BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon and $1.3 million in total from PACs up to that point. Her 2018 campaign total from PACs was just over $37,000, almost all coming from labor associations and trade unions.

Gabbard was reelected in 2018, defeating Republican nominee Brian Evans by 153,271 to 44,850 votes (77.4%–22.6%).

In 2017 Gabbard introduced the "Off Fossil Fuels (OFF) Act", which set a target of 2035 for transitioning the United States to renewable energy. It was endorsed by Food and Water Watch.

In 2018 Gabbard introduced the "Securing America's Election Act", a bill to require all districts to use paper ballots, yielding an auditable paper trail in the event of a recount. Common Cause endorsed the bill. When Attorney General William Barr issued his statement summarizing the Mueller Report which, he asserted, failed to find that members of Trump's 2016 campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government, Gabbard called this "a good thing for America". She subsequently reintroduced her election security bill, arguing that it would make foreign interference less likely in 2020.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Armed Services (2013–)
  • Subcommittee on Readiness
  • Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
• Committee on Foreign Affairs (2013–2019)
  • Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
  • Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa
• Committee on Financial Services (2019–)
  • Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy
  • Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion

Caucus membership

• Congressional Progressive Caucus
• Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
• Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus
• Medicare For All Caucus
• U.S.-Japan Caucus

Democratic National Committee

On January 22, 2013, Gabbard was elected to a four-year term as Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee. She was critical of chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz's decision to hold only six debates during the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries, compared with 26 in 2008 and 15 in 2004. Along with Minneapolis mayor R. T. Rybak and two candidates, Gabbard called for more debates, appearing on multiple news outlets to express her dissatisfaction with the reduction in the number. Later she was either "disinvited" or asked to "consider not coming" to the Democratic debate in Las Vegas as a consequence. In a phone interview with the New York Times, Gabbard spoke of an unhealthy atmosphere and the feeling that she had "checked [her free speech] at the door" in taking the job.

Gabbard resigned as DNC Vice Chair on February 28, 2016, in order to endorse Senator Bernie Sanders for the nomination. She was the first Congresswoman to endorse Sanders and later gave the nominating speech putting his name forward at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

In July 2016 Gabbard launched a petition to end the Democratic Party's process of appointing superdelegates in the nomination process. She endorsed Keith Ellison for DNC chair in the 2017 chairmanship elections.

Gabbard was assigned as Bernie Sanders's running mate in California for any write-in votes for Sanders.

Shortly after the election, Gabbard was mentioned as a possible presidential candidate for 2020.

2020 presidential campaign

Main article: Tulsi Gabbard 2020 presidential campaign

Gabbard campaigning for President in San Francisco, California

Tulsi Gabbard 2020 presidential campaign logo

On February 2, 2019, Gabbard officially launched her 2020 presidential campaign, saying that it was in the "spirit of service above self" that she announced her candidacy. CNN described her foreign policy platform as anti-interventionalist and her economic platform as populist.

Gabbard was the most frequently Googled candidate after both the first and second 2020 Democratic debates. During the second democratic debates, Gabbard assailed Senator Kamala Harris over her record as a prosecutor, saying Harris owed an apology to the people who “suffered under your reign.”

Nonprofit organizations and associations

Gabbard and her father co-founded Healthy Hawaiʻi Coalition, an environmental educational group.

Gabbard was also a cofounder of the non-profit Stand Up For America (SUFA), which she and her father co-founded in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. SUFA's website profiled Gabbard and hosted letters from her sent during her deployments overseas. In September 2010 SUFA's website came under criticism for promoting her campaign for the Honolulu City Council. Gabbard said the improper addition "was an honest mistake from a volunteer," and the page and link in question were immediately removed.

Gabbard was a 5-year ‘term member' of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). When asked about her involvement in it, she said that while many in CFR did not share her worldview, “If we only sit in rooms with people who we agree with, then we won’t be able to bring about the kind of change that we need to see.”

Political positions

Gabbard speaking at a luncheon in February 2013

For Gabbard, "foreign policy is inseparable from domestic policy” and ending "regime change wars" is the best way to pay for other things Americans need.

Domestic policy

Campaign finance

In mid-2017 Gabbard pledged to no longer accept money from political action committees In October 2018 The Intercept reported that she was one of only four members of Congress who had pledged not to accept corporate campaign donations.

Corporate restriction of civil liberties

Gabbard has called for breaking up "big tech companies who take away our civil liberties and freedoms in the name of national security and corporate greed." She supports net neutrality, calling it a “cornerstone of our democracy”, and has criticized Facebook for banning users.

Criminal justice system and private prisons

According to the Maui Independent, Gabbard has been outspoken against a “broken criminal justice system” and abuse of private prisons that together put “people in prison for smoking marijuana while allowing corporations like Purdue Pharma, who are responsible for the opioid-related deaths of thousands of people, to walk away scot-free with their coffers full. This so-called criminal justice system, which favors the rich and powerful and punishes the poor, cannot stand.” In December 2018 she co-sponsored the First Step Act as a "first in a long line of steps toward comprehensive criminal justice reform, … greater sentencing reform, and [to] eradicate the private prison industry.” This law will, among other things, empower prisoners for successful reentry into society, reduce rates of recidivism, and establish a Risk-Reduction System to match inmates to programs best-fitting their needs.

Gabbard’s plans for criminal justice reform include federal decriminalization of marijuana, sentencing reform to reduce certain mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenders, and diverting youth away from juvenile courts and towards community-based systems of support.

Drug war

In June 2018 Gabbard cosponsored a resolution expressing House sentiment that the drug war had failed and apologizing to “individuals and communities that were victimized by this policy”. She also cosponsored a separate resolution asking states to “repair the most egregious effects of the war on drugs on communities of color, in particular to those who now hold criminal records for a substance that is now legal and regulated.”

Economy

Gabbard has advocated for financial reform since first running for Congress, including such measures as restoring the Glass-Steagall Act, breaking up too-big-to-fail banks, strengthening protections against predatory lending practices, increasing capital requirements for the nation’s largest banks, and banning naked credit default swaps.

In 2012, during her first campaign for Congress, Gabbard critiqued JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon "and an army of Wall Street lobbyists” for having "anchored down” the process of implementing Dodd-Frank legislation "to the point that half of the modest regulations included in it aren’t even in place today, including the Volcker Rule, which limits risky trading behavior." She also called for breaking up the big banks (noting that the five largest control 56 percent of the U.S. economy) and for preventing banks "from becoming too big and too precarious to ever again endanger our livelihoods as they did in 2008, and as they continue to do today."

Gabbard co-sponsored the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act of 2013. In 2014 she voted for Audit the Federal Reserve legislation.

In 2017 Gabbard co-sponsored the Return to Prudent Banking Act[1] to reinstate provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act in order to separate investment banking from commercial banking and prevent the largest banks from engaging in speculative trading, and urged her colleagues to oppose the Financial CHOICE Act, a bill rolling back financial regulations put into effect after the 2008 financial crisis. She also supported a bill to increase the hourly minimum wage to $15 by 2024.

In 2018 Gabbard voted with the minority against a bill she said worked to undo state-level legislation seeking to curb maximum interest rates on loans. She said that in Hawaii, which has no such state-level legislation, interest rates could reach an annual percentage rate (APR) of 459 percent.

Education

Gabbard supports making community college tuition free for all Americans while making all four-year colleges tuition free for students with an annual family income of $125,000 or less. The tuition would be funded by a new tax on trading stocks and bonds.

Environment

Gabbard at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii in September 2016

Gabbard received the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter's endorsement in the 2012 Democratic primary election for Congress and in her 2014 reelection campaign.

In December 2016, Gabbard, along with approximately 2,000 U.S. military veterans dubbed "The Veterans Stand for Standing Rock," traveled to North Dakota to join the protests against the construction of the final leg of the Dakota Access Pipeline near the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Indian Reservations.

In September 2017 Gabbard introduced legislation seeking to transition the United States to clean renewable energy. The bill would require electric utilities to transition to 80% renewable energy resources by 2027 and 100% renewable by 2035, while setting similar vehicle emission standards goals and banning hydraulic fracturing.

In November 2018 Gabbard spoke in favor of a Green New Deal, which was at the time a draft resolution to task a special House committee with coming up with legislation to eliminate fossil fuel use from the economy within a decade. In February 2019 she expressed concerns about the version of the Green New Deal proposed by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey, saying, "I have some concerns with the Green New Deal, and about some of the vagueness of the language in there, so have not co-sponsored the legislation”.

Gun rights

Standing with fellow House Democrats to demand a vote on gun control measures

The Honolulu Civil Beat wrote in 2018 that Gabbard's gun record was complicated, noting that she now supported "universal background checks, closing the gun show loophole and banning military-style assault weapons" but "it hasn’t always been reflected in her actions. She’s been slow to sign on to a number of gun control measures that have received widespread support among her Democratic Party colleagues. Sometimes she’s just a no-show." Gabbard has co-sponsored bills that would ban assault weapons and institute background checks for all gun purchases.

In March 2017 Gabbard was one of the few Democratic representatives to vote for the National Rifle Association (NRA)-supported Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act, "which would have essentially blocked the Department of Veterans Affairs from notifying the National Instant Criminal Background Check System that a veteran was mentally incompetent after determining they are unable to manage their own finances".

Health care

Gabbard supports universal health care. In 2017, she co-sponsored the Expanded & Improved Medicare For All Act[2] to create a national health insurance program that covers uninsured as well as underinsured people; allows for private insurance that is supplemental to but not duplicative of benefits provided under the program; and would be paid for in part by raising taxes on the wealthy and taxing financial transactions. Gabbard called the Republican-sponsored American Health Care Act of 2017 "really a handout to insurance and pharmaceutical companies that will further exacerbate the burden on American families."

Gabbard has said, “If you look at other countries in the world who have universal health care, every one of them has some form of a role for private insurance.” In 2019, she cosponsored the H.R. 1384, Medicare for All Act of 2019 (a similar but more detailed version of the Medicare for All Act of 2019) that would provide universal healthcare to all Americans.

In 2017 Gabbard cosponsored and worked toward passing the Preventing Diabetes in Medicare Act to extend Medicare medical nutrition therapy services to those with pre-diabetes or risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes so as to "help identify and treat diabetes earlier and more effectively."

In 2019, Gabbard cosponsored the Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act to allow wholesale distributors, pharmacies, and individuals to import affordable and safe drugs; the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act to allow the Health and Human Services to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies under Medicare Part D; and the Prescription Drug Price Relief Act to end government-granted monopolies for manufacturers that charge drug prices higher than the median prices at which the drugs are available in other countries.

Immigration

Gabbard has been described as out of step with other Democrats on immigration. In 2015 she voted with Congressional Republicans in favor of a bill requiring "extreme vetting" of Syrian and Iraqi refugees. The Obama administration said the bill would effectively stop the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States. That same year she called for a suspension of the visa waiver program for European passport holders.

Labeling GMOs

In 2013 Gabbard sponsored legislation to require GMO labeling. In 2016 she voted against a GMO-labeling bill, saying it was too weak.

LGBTQ+ rights

In 1998, at age 17, Gabbard worked for her father's anti-gay organization, which mobilized to pass a measure against same-sex marriage in Hawaii and promoted controversial conversion therapy. In 2002 she touted that work when running for the state legislature. In 2004 she testified at a Hawaii legislative hearing in opposition to civil unions.

Gabbard's positions on LGBTQ+ rights have since shifted dramatically. She cites having seen "the destructive effect of having governments … act as moral arbiters for their people" while she was deployed overseas. When running for Congress in 2012, Gabbard apologized to LGBT activists for her past comments.

Since joining Congress in 2013, Gabbard has co-sponsored pro-LGBT legislation, signed an amicus brief supporting Edith Windsor's challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, and supported legislation such as The Equality Act, a bill to amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to protect LGBT individuals, and other efforts to promote LGBT equality, including the repeal of DOMA, the Restore Honor to Servicemembers Act, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Equality for All Resolution.

Marijuana

In a 2017 interview with SFGate, Gabbard, in discussing legislation she cosponsored to delist marijuana as a federally controlled substance, remarked that federal policies “have turned everyday Americans into criminals, torn families apart, and wasted huge amounts of taxpayer dollars to arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate people for nonviolent marijuana charges.”

Gabbard has sponsored and cosponsored many cannabis-related bills during her time in Congress. In February 2017 she was the lead Democratic cosponsor of a measure to federally deschedule marijuana. In January 2018 Gabbard signed onto the far-reaching Marijuana Justice Act of 2018 "to remove marijuana and tetrahydrocannabinols" from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and withhold federal funds from states that disproportionately enforce cannabis laws. In March 2019 she was the lead sponsor of the H.R.1587, the Marijuana Data Collection Act, which would direct the National Academy of Sciences to study the effects of state marijuana legalization marijuana programs "on the economy, public health, criminal justice and employment." She has also supported bills to "shield medical marijuana states from federal interference, legalize industrial hemp, protect banks that service cannabis businesses, provide tax fairness for the cannabis industry, address various aspects of the federal-state marijuana policy gap, and remove roadblocks to research."

Opioid Addiction

In May 2016 Gabbard, citing a Los Angeles Times investigation into the manufacturer of OxyContin, called drug company marketing of painkillers the “the root cause of the problems”, as they were selling Oxycontin as a 12-hour drug while it wore off early in many patients, increasing the risk of addiction.

In May 2018 Gabbard, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Representatives Ro Khanna and Pramila Jayapal introduced The Opioid Crisis Accountability Act of 2018 "to penalize drug companies found to be profiting from the opioid epidemic [targeting] companies that engage in false marketing or distribution of opioids."

Partisan divide

Upon being sworn in to Congress, Gabbard claims the first thing she wanted to do was figure out a way to connect with her colleagues in both parties. She called her mother and asked, "Hey, can you make 434 boxes of Hawaiian macadamia nut toffee that I can give to all of my soon-to-be new friends?" After her mother said she thought it was a great idea, Gabbard continued, "Wait, one more request: can you make another 435 bigger boxes of toffee for the staff of every single member of Congress?” As her mother prepared the toffee, she wrote handwritten messages to each of her new colleagues. After delivering these “little gifts of ‘Aloha’", senior Republican leaders approached Gabbard to not only to thank for the toffee (and ask for more) but to ask how they could personally help address concerns of the people of Hawaii.

Religious freedom

During Brian C. Buescher's confirmation hearing for U.S. District Court in Nebraska, Gabbard wrote an op-ed on The Hill's Congress Blog arguing that while she personally opposed Buescher's nomination, her opposition was not based on his association with the Catholic Church or the Knights of Columbus; any opposition to Buescher based on his association with these religious institutions would, in her view, amount to religious bigotry and violate Article VI of the US Constitution.

Reproductive rights and abortion

Gabbard supports reproductive rights, including federal funding for abortion. She opposed abortion earlier in her career, but changed her mind.

Wall Street reform

See Economy, above.

Foreign policy

Gabbard has described herself as both a hawk and a dove. Asked if there were any wars that justified the use of US military force, Gabbard said there are "very few examples" and cited World War II.

Gabbard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia

Gabbard has also criticized what she describes as the "neoliberal/neoconservative war machine", which she argues pushes for more US involvement in foreign wars.

Assange, Snowden, and Manning

Gabbard has stated the U.S. government should drop charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, saying "his arrest and all … that just went down … poses a great threat to our freedom of the press and to our freedom of speech." She would also pardon NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, taking action to "close the loopholes" in the law Snowden exposed. Of Chelsea Manning, she said, "there is not an actual channel for whistle-blowers like them to bring forward information that exposes egregious abuses of our constitutional rights and liberties, period. There was not a channel for that to happen in a real way, and that's why they ended up taking the path that they did, and suffering the consequences."

Counterterrorism

Following her 2017 visit to Syria, Gabbard opposed US involvement in regime change, calling it counterproductive to defeating ISIL, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. She criticized the Obama Administration for "refusing" to say that "Islamic extremists" are waging a war against the United States. She has said, "Al-Qaeda attacked us on 9/11 and must be defeated. Obama won't bomb them in Syria. Putin did." She proposed the Stop Arming Terrorists Act "to force the CIA to stop aiding militants in Syria" by banning federal funding for Al-Qaeda, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, and ISIL. The bill has 14 cosponsors.

Gabbard's views on Islamic terrorism have distinguished her from many mainstream Democrats. In 2015 she met with U.S.-backed authoritarian Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to discuss "the threat of ISIS and Islamic extremist groups", two years after he led the August 2013 Rabaa massacre, which killed hundreds of civilians. She has advocated increasing pressure on Pakistan to stop terrorist attacks and expressed "solidarity with India" in reference to the 2016 Uri attack.

Military industrial complex

In her campaign launch, Gabbard called on everyone to take a stand against what she described as the "neolibs and neocons” from both parties promoting regime change, and said that they were dragging the country toward a "New Cold War" arms race. In a campaign email released later that week, she wrote that “media giants ruled by corporate interests … in the pocket of the ‘establishment war machine'", deployed journalism to "silence debate and dissent.” She has criticized those she calls "chickenhawks" in both parties, and argues that the media and the defense industry are promoting war "for their own power and profit.”

Nuclear arms race

Gabbard has criticized "our leaders" not only for “taking us from one regime-change war to the next” but for "leading us into a new cold war and arms race”, adding that “Nuclear strategists are talking about how we are at a greater risk of nuclear war than we ever have been before.” She has introduced legislation to prevent the use of taxpayer dollars for weapons that violate the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and expressed disappointment that no moderators at the Democratic presidential primary debates "raised the issues or asked a question related to the most existential threat we face in this country.”

Regime change

In an 2018 interview with The Intercept, Gabbard said U.S. efforts at regime change “have ended up worse off for the people of those countries and have been counterproductive to the interests of the American people.” The Intercept described her as "an outspoken critic of U.S. involvement in the Middle East from the disastrous Iraq War to NATO’s 2011 intervention in Libya that followed Arab Spring protests against the brutal regime of Moammar Gadhafi." She also opposed the 2011 NATO-led military intervention in Libya and has called for an end to the nearly two-decades-long U.S. war in Afghanistan.

Matt Taibbi has noted that Gabbard's position is "not as has been represented in most press accounts. … She’s not an isolationist. She’s simply opposed to bombing the crap out of, and occupying, foreign countries for no apparent positive strategic objective, beyond enriching contractors".

Torture

In a December 2014 interview Gabbard said she was "conflicted" about the report published that week on the CIA's use of torture in interrogations, saying, "the jury is still out on the report". She also said that while she abhorred torture, were there an imminent danger to American citizens, as president she "would do everything in my power to keep the American people safe."

In a February 2019 interview with Status Coup host Jordan Chariton, Gabbard said, "Through my time on the armed services committee in congress over the last five years I've supported amendments to the defense bill that ban torture, ban these enhanced interrogation techniques, and as president will continue to strongly oppose torture and the use of those techniques".

Trump administration — meeting and critique

On November 21, 2016, Gabbard became the second Democrat (after Michelle Rhee) to meet with President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team at Trump Tower. She described the meeting as "frank and positive" and said she accepted the meeting to influence Trump before Republicans grew in influence and escalated the war to overthrow the Syrian government. She later called the Trump administration's 2017 Shayrat missile strike reckless and "short-sighted."

Gabbard did not join the 169 congressional Democrats who signed a letter of opposition to Steve Bannon's appointment as Trump's chief strategist, but she joined 182 other colleagues to co-sponsor a bill to remove him from the National Security Council.

Gabbard vehemently criticized the 2017 United States–Saudi Arabia arms deal and the administration's decision not to sanction Saudi Arabia over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

Specific nations and regions

Afghanistan

At the Democratic debate on July 31, 2019, Gabbard accused Trump of continuing to betray Americans by repeatedly walking back his plans to withdraw from Afghanistan, adding that withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan was about leadership instead of "arbitrary deadlines". Gabbard said she would withdraw troops from Afghanistan during her first year as president and cited the need for the United States "to do the right thing and end the wasteful regime change wars and bring our troops home."

India

Gabbard and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York on September 28, 2014

Gabbard supports a strong US-India relationship. She has repeatedly praised Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister and leader of the ruling Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, and advocated for closer ties with him. Her support has led some critics to charge that she is too close to Modi and to Hindu Nationalists in India. She has disputed claims that she is partial to the BJP or to any other political party in India, and has stated that she has met with officials from both parties.

Gabbard was sharply critical of the U.S. decision to deny Modi a visa over allegations of his involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots, calling it a "great blunder" that could have undermined the US-India relationship. In 2013 she joined some of her colleagues on the House Foreign Affairs Committee in opposing a House resolution that called for continuing the ban on Modi and for "religious freedom and related human rights to be included in the United States-India Strategic Dialogue and for such issues to be raised directly with federal and state Indian government officials". The bill admonished India to protect "the rights and freedoms of religious minorities" and specifically mentioned incidents of mass violence against India's Muslim minority that took place during Modi's tenure. Gabbard justified her opposition by saying the resolution would weaken the friendship between India and the US and citing its timing as interfering with India's elections, while emphasizing the need for the U.S. to stand for religious freedom. She later also said that "there was a lot of misinformation that surrounded the event in 2002." Five months later President Obama lifted the ban and invited Modi to visit him in the White House.

Days before it began, Gabbard reiterated that she was withdrawing from the 2018 World Hindu Congress, expressing concern over a "significant number of Indian partisan politicians [...] playing an important role" at the event. She had earlier written to an organizer of the event to voice concern that it was "becoming a platform for Indian partisan politics."

In January 2019 The Intercept published an article claiming Gabbard had links with Hindu nationalist organization Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America and the Hindu American Foundation. In a response, she rebutted claims that she is a "Hindu nationalist", calling it "religious bigotry" and writing, "My meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India's democratically elected leader, have been highlighted as 'proof' of this and portrayed as somehow being out of the ordinary or somehow suspect, even though President Obama, Secretary Clinton, President Trump and many of my colleagues in Congress have met with and worked with him." An earlier version of The Intercept's article searched Gabbard's donor list for "names ... of Hindu origin" to "show Gabbard's broad base of support in the Hindu-American community". Gabbard criticized this as religious bigotry, saying that Christians would not be subject to such scrutiny based on their names. The Intercept removed the sentence with an apology, saying that it was not intended "to question the motives of those political donors" and apologizing "for any such implication".

Iran

Gabbard voted in favor of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an agreement with Iran that imposed restraints on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting nuclear-related sanctions against Iran. She opposes the Trump administration's decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and has said that as president she would reenter the agreement, but also negotiate on remaining issues in order to find a diplomatic solution and deescalate tensions.

In May 2019 Gabbard warned about the danger, costs, and consequences of a potential war with Iran and criticized the Trump administration for elevating tensions. She said it would be illegal for the Trump administration to rely on a 2001 law that authorized the use of U.S. Armed Forces against those responsible for the September 11 attacks and any "associated forces".

US congressional delegation at Halifax International Security Forum 2014

Israel

Gabbard supports a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. In March 2015, unlike 58 other Democrats, she did not boycott Benjamin Netanyahu's address to the U.S. Congress, saying at the time that relations "must rise above the political fray, as America continues to stand with Israel as her strongest ally." On July 14, 2015, Gabbard attended the Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a conservative leaning organization.

In January 2017 Gabbard voted against a House resolution condemning the U.N. Security Council resolution on Israeli settlements built on the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank. She said, "While I remain concerned about aspects of the U.N. resolution, I share the Obama administration's reservation about the harmful impact Israeli settlement activity has on the prospects for peace." She criticized Israel's use of live ammunition along the Gaza fence in May 2018.

Saudi Arabia

Gabbard opposed a $1.15 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. She has said, "The U.S. must stop arming Saudi Arabia, stop fueling this fire and hold Saudi Arabia accountable for their actions.”

Gabbard has called for ending U.S. support for the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, saying the U.S. is complicit in a humanitarian disaster. In September 2018 she supported a legislation invoking the War Powers Resolution of 1973 to stop U.S. involvement in the war.

In November 2018, after Trump indicated the U.S. would not sanction Saudi Arabia over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, Gabbard tweeted at Trump, "being Saudi Arabia's bitch is not 'America First.'"

Syria

In 2013, Gabbard opposed the Obama administration's proposed military strikes in Syria and in November 2015 introduced legislation to block CIA activities in Syria and U.S. military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This legislation was referred to Committees and subsequently blocked.

In March 2016, Gabbard was one of three members of Congress to vote against House resolution 121, which condemned the government of Syria and "other parties to the conflict" for war crimes and crimes against humanity," saying that though Assad is a "brutal dictator," the resolution was "a War Bill—a thinly veiled attempt to use the rationale of 'humanitarianism' as a justification for overthrowing the Syrian government". In November 2016 she met with Trump in an effort to convince him of her point of view. In 2017, Gabbard cited US "regime-change" involvement in Syria as a source of the Syrian refugee crisis.

In January 2017, Gabbard had an unplanned meeting with Assad during a trip to Syria and Lebanon. She reportedly did not inform House leadership of her trip in advance. Gabbard said in a press release that the House Ethics Committee approved the trip and the Arab American Community Center for Economic and Social Services (AACCESS-Ohio) paid for it. She later paid for the trip with her own money. On February 7, 2017, it was reported that Gabbard had not filed the required disclosure forms by the deadline, but according to her office she complied with House ethics rules by filing her post-trip financial report by the deadline. Remaining forms and her itinerary were submitted the next day. Gabbard said that the Syrian people's message was "powerful and consistent: there is no difference between ‘moderate’ rebels and al-Qaeda (al-Nusra) or ISIS—they are all the same". She described the Syrian conflict as “a war between terrorists under the command of groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda and the Syrian government".

In April 2017, Gabbard expressed skepticism that evidence then available had shown that Assad ordered the use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians. Following the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, Gabbard called for a U.N. investigation into the attack and prosecution of Assad by the International Criminal Court should he be found responsible. After Trump ordered the 2017 Shayrat missile strike targeting the Syrian airfield believed to be the source of the attack, Gabbard called the strike reckless and was skeptical that Assad was responsible for the attack, which led to sharp criticism from former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean as well as Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden.

In a 2018 interview with The Nation, Gabbard said the United States had "been waging a regime change war in Syria since 2011. Central to that war to overthrow the Syrian government of Assad, along with our allies Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar, has been providing direct and indirect support to terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda". In an August 2019 interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo, Gabbard said of Assad: "He's a brutal dictator. Just like Saddam Hussein. Just like Gadhafi in Libya. The reason that I'm so outspoken on this issue of ending these wasteful regime-change wars is because I have seen firsthand this high human cost of war and the impact that it has on my fellow brothers and sisters in uniform".

In August 2019, both Scott Ritter, former United Nations weapons inspector, and MIT professor Theodore Postol said that they considered Gabbard's longstanding skepticism concerning the evidence presented of chemical attacks in Douma and Khan Shaykhun to have been a healthy attitude. Based on his experience as a pilot, Ritter concluded that the Khan Shaykhun incident "must be viewed as a false flag incident" and supports Gabbard’s assertion "that the attacks may have been staged by opposition forces for the purpose of drawing the United States and the West deeper into the war."

Trans-Pacific Partnership

Gabbard opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership and led protests against it. A member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, she criticized both the deal itself and the secrecy surrounding the negotiations, arguing that it would primarily benefit multinational corporations and be a detriment to American workers and the environment.

Venezuela

In the wake of the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, Gabbard said the United States needed to stay out of Venezuela and not get involved in overthrowing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. She said Venezuela, not the United States, should choose its government.

Personal life

Gabbard's first name comes from Sanskrit. Tulsi is the name for Holy Basil, a plant sacred in Hinduism. Her siblings also have Hindu Sanskrit-origin names. During her childhood Gabbard excelled in martial arts, and was interested in gardening. She is a surfer and an accomplished athlete. In 2002 she was a martial arts instructor. She is vegan and, as a Hindu, follows Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a religious movement founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the 16th century. Gabbard describes herself as a karma yogi. She values the Bhagavad Gita as a spiritual guide, and used it when she took the oath of office in 2013.

Gabbard has said that she is pleased that her election gives hope to young American Hindus who "can be open about their faith, and even run for office, without fear of being discriminated against or attacked because of their religion".

In 2002 Gabbard married Eduardo Tamayo. They divorced in 2006. She cites "the stresses war places on military spouses and families" as a reason for their divorce. In 2015 Gabbard married freelance cinematographer and editor Abraham Williams.

Awards and honors

On November 25, 2013, Gabbard received the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award at a ceremony at the Institute of Politics at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government for her efforts on behalf of veterans.

On March 26, 2014, Elle honored Gabbard, with others, at the Italian Embassy in the United States during its annual "Women in Washington Power List".

On July 15, 2015, Gabbard received the Friend of the National Parks Award from the National Parks Conservation Association.

See also

• List of Asian Americans and Pacific Islands Americans in the United States Congress
• Women in the United States House of Representatives

External links

• Tulsi 2020 official presidential campaign website
• Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard official U.S. House website
• Tulsi Gabbard on the issues - TulsiGabbard.org
• Tulsi Gabbard for Congress
• Healthy Hawai'i Coalition (HHC)
• Tulsi Gabbard at Curlie

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Tulsi Gabbard Video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America
• Tulsi Gabbard Marriage Tulsi Gabbard's marriage in Vedic tradition