From 2013 to 2021, Tulsi Gabbard, an American politician, US Army Reserve officer, and political commentator, represented Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district in the US House of Representatives.
Gabbard was both the first voting Samoan-American and the first Hindu member of Congress. Prior to defecting from the party in October 2022 and turning independent, she ran for the Democratic candidacy in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
At the age of 21, Gabbard won a seat in the Hawaii House of Representatives in 2002. In Iraq from 2004 to 2005, Gabbard worked in a field medical unit of the Hawaii Army National Guard.
From 2008 to 2009, she was stationed in Kuwait as an Army Military Police battalion leader. Tulsi Gabbard, the U.S. congressman for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district, launched her 2020 presidential candidacy on January 11, 2019.
Her polling numbers in January 2020 ranged from 1 to 2 percent. Had she prevailed, she would have been the nation’s first female, Hindu, and Samoan president as well as the youngest person to hold the position in history.
She made cutting back on military operations abroad a key part of her campaign platform. Gabbard endorsed Joe Biden and withdrew from the 2020 race on March 19, 2020.
