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Tulsi Gabbard: US Representative Serving Hawaii's Second Congressional District and Shambolic Presidential Candidate


Biographical Information and Member Profile- https://gabbard.house.gov/about

Born: April 12, 1981 (currently 37 years old) in Leloaloa, American Samoa 

Residence: Honolulu, Hawaii

Education: B.S. in Business Administration from Hawaii Pacific University

Career and Previous Elected Experience: Gabbard was born into a political family, and her interest in public service began at young age. As a teenager, she founded the Healthy Hawaii Coalition, a non-profit focused on educating children on protecting Hawaii's environment. In 2002, Gabbard was elected to the Hawaii State House of Representatives at the age of twenty-one, becoming the youngest person ever elected in the state. In 2004, Gabbard enlisted in the Hawaii National Guard and had to step down from office in order to deploy to Iraq. After serving her tour of duty, Gabbard returned to Hawaii and worked as a legislative aide to Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI). Gabbard once again left her position in 2009 to deploy to Kuwait, and she eventually rose to the rank of major. Gabbard was elected to the Honolulu City Council in 2010 and to the US House of Representatives in 2012. She is currently serving her fourth term in office and recently launched a bid for the presidency. 



Family: Tulsi's father, Mike Gabbard, is a member of the Hawaii State Senate. He is of European and Samoan descent and an active member of the Roman Catholic Church. Tulsi's mother, Carol Porter, is originally from Indiana. She is of European descent and a practicing Hindu. Tulsi and her first husband, Eduardo Tamayo, were married in 2002 and divorced in 2005. She remarried to Abraham Williams in 2015. The couple have no children.

Religion: Hindu

Party Affiliation: Democrat

  • Committee on Foreign Affairs
    • Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
    • Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa
  • Committee on Armed Services
    • Subcommittee on Readiness
    • Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
Tenure: With her military background and ability to pull off seemingly impossible electoral victories, Gabbard has long been seen as a "rising star" amongst Democrats. Gabbard's national profile first began to rise after she was invited to speak at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, and she remained popular with many party activists because of her willingness to embrace positions that are well to the left of center. Gabbard was among the first members of the House of Representatives to endorse Bernie Sanders for president and even gave his nominating speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Many pundits have speculated that had Sanders won the nomination he would likely have chosen Gabbard to be his running mate. However, Gabbard's stock has fallen as of late. The rollout of her presidential campaign has been nothing short of disastrous, with several key aides leaving because of Gabbard's alleged indecisiveness and disorganization and many prominent Hawaiian politicians and newspapers refusing to support her candidacy. Gabbard has also been criticized because of her staunchly anti-interventionist foreign policy views and defense of the Assad regime in Syria. To make matters worse, she is already set to face a popular state legislator in a primary battle for her House seat in 2020 should her presidential campaign fall apart. 

Sponsored Legislation: Gabbard is currently only sponsoring H.R. 663: Burn Pits Accountability Act. The bill would direct the Secretary of Defense to include in health assessments of veterans an evaluation of whether they have been exposed to open burn pits or toxic airborne chemicals. She is cosponsoring fifty-one bills this session.

Interest Group Ratings: In 2013, Americans for Democratic Action gave Gabbard an eighty percent rating, placing her on the more liberal end of the ideological spectrum. Gabbard also has one hundred percent lifetime ratings from Planned Parenthood and the Brady Campaign.

Crossing Party Lines: The Lugar Center at Georgetown University ranked Gabbard as the ninety-fifth most bipartisan member of the House of Representatives in 2017. She has voted consistently liberal since entering Congress and sides with members of her own party on most issues. However, Gabbard has been known to work with Republicans on veteran's and foreign policy issues, and early in her political career she was an outspoken opponent of gay marriage. 

Leadership: Gabbard was chosen as vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee in 2013 but resigned in 2016 because she believed that the party had "rigged" its presidential nomination process to favor Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. 

Fun Fact: Tulsi is the first Hindu and Samoan member of Congress.



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