Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard (/ˈtʌlsi ˈɡæbərd/ TUL-see GAB-ərd; born April 12, 1981) is an American politician, United States Army Reserve officer and political commentator, who was the U.S. representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021. Gabbard was the first Samoan-American to become a voting member of Congress and also its first Hindu member. She was a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 United States presidential election,[1][2] before announcing in October 2022 that she had left the Democratic Party to become an independent.[3][4]
Tulsi Gabbard
Mark Moses
April 12, 1981
Leloaloa, American Samoa
Independent (since 2022)
Democratic (until 2022)
Mike Gabbard (father)
2003–present
In 2002, Gabbard was elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives at the age of 21.[5] Gabbard served in a field medical unit of the Hawaii Army National Guard while deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and was stationed in Kuwait from 2008 to 2009 as an Army Military Police platoon leader.[6][7][8] While a member of Congress, she served as a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2013 to 2016, and resigned to endorse Bernie Sanders' campaign for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.
During her time in Congress, she frequently appeared on Fox News and criticized the Barack Obama administration for refusing to say that the real enemy of the United States is radical Islam or Islamic extremism.[9] During her presidential campaign, she highlighted an opposition to military interventionism,[10][11] although she has called herself a "hawk" on terrorism.[12] Her decision to meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and her skepticism of claims that he had used chemical weapons[13][14] gave rise to public disagreement from mainstream Democrats.[15]
In March 2020, Gabbard ended her presidential candidacy, and endorsed Joe Biden. After leaving the House of Representatives on January 3, 2021,[16] she has taken more conservative positions on issues such as abortion, transgender rights and border security.[17][18] She continued her frequent presence on Fox News, including serving as a fill-in host for Tucker Carlson Tonight.[19][20] In October 2022, Gabbard announced that she had left the Democratic Party altogether, citing their positions on foreign policy and social issues as reasons for her departure.[21] She campaigned for several Republican candidates in the 2022 midterm elections.[22] Gabbard was also a featured speaker at the 2022 and 2024 Conservative Political Action Conferences (CPAC).[23][24]
Gabbard was born on April 12, 1981, in Leloaloa, Maʻopūtasi County, on American Samoa's main island of Tutuila.[25][26] She was the fourth of five children born to Carol (née Porter) Gabbard and Mike Gabbard.[27] In 1983, when Gabbard was two years old, her family moved to Hawaii, where they had lived in the late 1970s.[28][29][30]
Gabbard has both European and Samoan ancestry,[31][32] and was raised in a multicultural household.[33] Her mother was born in Indiana and grew up in Michigan.[34] Her father was born in American Samoa and lived in Hawaii and Florida as a child;[35] he is of Samoan and European ancestry.[33] After moving to Hawaii,[28] Gabbard's mother became interested in Hinduism,[36][37] and gave Hindu names to all her children.[27] Gabbard's given name, "Tulasi" in Sanskrit, is the word for holy basil, regarded as an earthly manifestation of the Goddess Tulasi.[38]
Growing up in Hawaii, Gabbard's childhood included surfing and martial arts, while also learning spiritual principles from the Bhagavad Gita.[28] She was raised in part with the teachings of the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF), a Vaishnava Hindu organization,[39] connected with International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).[40][41][42] According to some sources, Gabbard was homeschooled through high school, except for two years at an all-girls SIF boarding school in the Philippines.[43][44][45] Gabbard settled into the Hindu faith as a teenager.[27][46][47]
Gabbard worked for a number of organizations founded by her father, including:
In 2002, while working as a self-employed martial arts instructor, Gabbard dropped out of Leeward Community College, where she was studying television production, to successfully run for election to the Hawaii House of Representatives.[55][56][57][58][59]
In 2009, Gabbard graduated from Hawaii Pacific University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in International Business.[60][61][62]
Military service
In April 2003, while serving in the Hawaii State Legislature, Gabbard enlisted in the Hawaii Army National Guard.[63] 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.[64][65] In Iraq, Gabbard served at Logistical Support Area Anaconda, completing her tour in 2005.[66][67] Because of the deployment, she chose not to campaign for reelection to the state legislature.[68]
In March 2007, she graduated from the Accelerated Officer Candidate School at the Alabama Military Academy. 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.[6][69] She was stationed in Kuwait from 2008 to 2009.[67][70][71] She was one of the first women to enter a Kuwaiti military facility,[5][72] as well as the first woman to receive an award of appreciation from the Kuwait National Guard.[73][5]
Gabbard is a recipient of the Combat Medical Badge and the Meritorious Service Medal.[74] On October 12, 2015, she was promoted from the rank of captain to major at a ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.[75][76] She continued to serve as a major in the Hawaii Army National Guard until her transfer to the 351st Civil Affairs Command, a California-based United States Army Reserve unit assigned to the United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, in June 2020.[77][78]
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 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.[79] In October 2020, Gabbard left the Hawaii Army National Guard to join the Army Reserve with a California-based unit.[80] On July 4, 2021, Gabbard was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel.[81]
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.[324] On March 20, 2014, Elle magazine honored Gabbard, with others, at the Italian Embassy in the United States during its annual "Women in Washington Power List".[336]
On February 26, 2015, Gabbard received the National Association of Counties County Alumni Award for her "steadfast commitment to the nation's counties".[337] On July 15, 2015, Gabbard received the Friend of the National Parks Award from the National Parks Conservation Association.[338]
On September 30, 2018, Gabbard received the Ho'ola Na Pua Advocacy Award for "her dedication to serving and empowering human trafficking survivors in Hawaii" at their annual Pearl Gala.[339] On October 16, 2018, Gabbard was honored as Hawai'i Pacific University's 2018 Paul T. C. Loo Distinguished Alumni.[340]