Tulsi Gabbard (born April 12, 1981) is an American politician and military officer serving as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve since 2021, having previously served in Hawaii Army National Guard from 2003 to 2020. In November 2024, President-elect Trump selected Gabbard for the position of director of national intelligence in his second term, starting January 2025. A former congresswoman, Gabbard served as U.S. representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021. She was the first Samoan American member of Congress, and also its first Hindu American representative. She was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries. She left the Democratic Party in 2022 to become an independent. In 2024, she joined the Republican Party. Gabbard joined the Hawaii Army National Guard in 2003 and was deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005, where she served as a specialist with the medical unit of 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. She received the Combat Medical Badge in 2005 for "participation in combat operations under enemy hostile fire". In 2007, Gabbard completed the officer training program at the Alabama Military Academy and graduated at the top of her class. She was stationed in Kuwait from 2008 to 2009 as an Army Military Police platoon leader. In 2015, Gabbard became a major with the Hawaii Army National Guard. In 2020, she transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve. She was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 2021, while deployed in the Horn of Africa as a civil affairs officer. During her time in Congress, Gabbard became known for her strong stand against Islamic terrorism in the Middle East and her opposition to U.S. military intervention in the Syrian civil war. Around 2015, she often criticized the Obama administration for not recognizing Islamic extremism as a problem. She served as vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2013 to 2016, but then resigned from the position to endorse Bernie Sanders for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. Gabbard met with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in 2017— she faced criticism for making subsequent comments perceived as supportive of Assad, including a 2019 statement that "Assad is not the enemy of the United States." Gabbard later referred to Assad as a "brutal dictator." In her 2020 presidential campaign, she highlighted a broad opposition to military interventionism, while reiterating her position on combating terrorism. After ending her presidential candidacy, she endorsed Joe Biden in March 2020. After her departure from the House of Representatives in January 2021, Gabbard took more conservative positions on issues such as abortion, foreign policy, LGBTQ rights, and border security. She appeared frequently on Fox News, often serving as a fill-in host for Tucker Carlson Tonight. In October 2022, Gabbard left the Democratic Party, citing differences on foreign policy and social issues. Gabbard campaigned for several Republicans in the 2022 midterm elections, and was a featured speaker during that year's Conservative Political Action Conferences (CPAC). In August 2024, Gabbard endorsed former president Donald Trump for the 2024 United States presidential election. After Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Gabbard became an honorary co-chair of Trump's 2024 presidential transition team. In November 2024, Trump announced his intention to nominate Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence, which would make her the first Pacific Islander American to hold a Cabinet-level position. Her nomination drew scrutiny of her past statements on Syria, alongside concern over her comments regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine that were considered sympathetic toward Russia. Several Republicans have defended her record, noting that Gabbard has honorably served in the U.S. Armed Forces for over two decades.

Early life and education

Gabbard was born on April 12, 1981 in Leloaloa, Maʻopūtasi 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). In 1983, when Gabbard was two years old, her family moved back to Hawaii, where they had lived in the late 1970s. With both European and Samoan ancestry, Gabbard was raised in a multicultural household. Her mother was born in Indiana and grew up in Michigan. Her father, who is of Samoan and European ancestry, was born in American Samoa and grew up in Hawaii and Florida. Gabbard's childhood in Hawaii included surfing, martial arts, and yoga. She was mostly home schooled, except for two years at a girls' school in the Philippines. Gabbard learned spiritual principles, such as Karma, from the ancient Indian text Bhagavad Gita. As a teenager, she settled into the Hindu faith. As a young adult, Gabbard worked for Stand Up For America (SUFA), founded by her father in the wake of the September 11 attacks. She was also associated with her father's The Alliance for Traditional Marriage and Values, an anti-gay marriage political action committee. She worked briefly as an educator for the Healthy Hawai'i Coalition, which promoted protection of Hawaii's natural environment. Subsequently, she worked as a self-employed martial arts instructor. In 2002, when she was 21, Gabbard dropped out of Leeward Community College, where she was studying television production, to run successfully for election to the Hawaii state legislature, and became the youngest woman ever elected as a U.S. state representative. In 2009, Gabbard graduated from Hawaii Pacific University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in international business.

Military service

In April 2003, while serving in the Hawaii 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 of the Hawaii Army National Guard. In Iraq, Gabbard served at Logistical Support Area Anaconda, completing her tour in 2005. Because of the deployment, she chose not to campaign for reelection to the state legislature. In March 2007, she graduated from the Accelerated Officer Candidate School at the Alabama Military Academy and graduated at the top of her class, the first woman ever to do so. After successfully completing the officer training, Gabbard was commissioned as a second lieutenant, and assigned to the 29th Infantry Brigade Special Troops Battalion, this time to serve as an Army Military Police officer. She was stationed in Kuwait from 2008 to 2009. She was one of the first women to enter a Kuwaiti military facility, as well as the first woman to receive an award of appreciation from the Kuwait National Guard. Gabbard received a Combat Medical Badge in 2005 for “participation in combat operations under enemy hostile fire in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III.” She has been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal from the United States. She also received the German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency. 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. 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. In 2020, after serving with them for 17 years, Gabbard left the Hawaii Army National Guard for a new assignment with a California-based Army Reserve unit. On July 4, 2021, Gabbard was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, while she was deployed to the Horn of Africa working as a civil affairs officer in support of a special operations mission. As a lieutenant colonel, Gabbard was given the command of the 1st Battalion, 354th Regiment, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Political career

Hawaii House of Representatives (2002–2004)

In 2002, after redistricting, Gabbard won the four-candidate Democratic primary for the 42nd district of the Hawaii House of Representatives with a plurality of 43% of the vote. Gabbard then won the general election with 60.7% of the vote, defeating Republican Alfonso Jimenez. At the age of 21, Gabbard became the youngest legislator ever elected in Hawaii's history, and was at the time 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. Rida Cabanilla, who filed to run against her, called on Gabbard to resign because she would not be able to represent her district from Iraq. Gabbard announced in August 2004 that she would not campaign for a second term, and Cabanilla won the Democratic primary with 58% of the vote. State law prevented the removal of Gabbard's name from the ballot.

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 vacated by City Councilman Rod Tam, of the 6th district, who decided to retire to run for mayor of Honolulu. In the 10-candidate nonpartisan open primary in September 2010, Gabbard finished first with 26.8% of the vote. In the November 2 runoff election she defeated Sesnita Moepono with 49.5% of the vote. 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.

United States House of Representatives (2013–2021)

2012 election and first term (113th Congress)

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 seat. 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%); the Honolulu Star-Advertiser called her win an "improbable rise from a distant underdog to victory". After winning the primary, Gabbard resigned from the City Council on August 16 "in order to focus on her congressional campaign" and to prevent the cost of holding a special election. As the Democratic nominee, Gabbard spoke at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the invitation of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who called Gabbard "an emerging star". As expected in heavily Democratic Hawaii, she 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 voting 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. Despite support from some prominent mainland Democrats, she was not on the list of three candidates which the Democratic Party of Hawaii sent to the governor. In March 2013, Gabbard introduced the Helping Heroes Fly Act, which sought to improve airport security screenings for severely wounded veterans. It passed Congress and was signed into law by president Barack Obama. She also introduced the House version of the Military Justice Improvement Act.

Second term (114th Congress)

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%). Along with Senator Hirono, Gabbard introduced a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Filipinos and Filipino American veterans who had fought in World War II. The bill passed Congress and was signed into law by president Obama in December 2016. In November 2015, Gabbard introduced Talia's Law, which sought to prevent child abuse and neglect on military bases. It was passed by Congress in February 2016, and signed into law by president Obama in December of that year.

Third term (115th Congress)

Gabbard was reelected on November 8, 2016, defeating Republican nominee Angela Kaaihue by 170,848 to 39,668 votes (81.2%–18.8%). In 2017, Gabbard introduced the Off Fossil Fuels (OFF) Act, which sought to "justly transition away from fossil fuel sources of energy to 100% clean energy by 2035, and for other purposes". In 2018, Gabbard introduced the Securing America's Election Act, a bill that would require all districts to use paper ballots, which would yield an auditable paper trail in the event of a recount. Common Cause, a nonpartisan watchdog group, endorsed the bill.

Fourth term (116th Congress)

Gabbard was reelected in November 2018, defeating Republican nominee Brian Evans by 153,271 to 44,850 votes (77.4%–22.6%). In September 2018, Gabbard and Representative Walter Jones (R-N.C.) co-sponsored the No More Presidential Wars Act, an effort to "reclaim the responsibility Congress has to be the body that declares war, to end these presidential wars that are being fought without the authorization of Congress". On October 25, 2019, Gabbard announced that she would not seek reelection to the House in 2020, citing her presidential campaign. Hawaii State Senator Kai Kahele had been challenging her for the congressional seat. Kahele and the co-chair of his campaign, former Hawaii governor Neil Abercrombie, criticized her for missing votes while campaigning for president — especially the vote on Syria; however, her absences were similar to other members of Congress running for president. In October 2020, Tulsi Gabbard and Matt Gaetz introduced a bill calling for the United States to drop criminal charges against Edward Snowden. She introduced a similar bill, with Kentucky Republican congressman Thomas Massie, aimed at ensuring the release of Julian Assange from prison in the United Kingdom where he was being held pending resolution of extradition proceedings to the United States.

House Committee assignments (2013-2021)

Gabbard served on several important House committees and subcommittees during her four terms in Congress from 2013 to 2021. Given her military background, she served on House Armed Services Committee (HASC) for all four terms from 2013 to 2021, overseeing the funding of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the United States Armed Forces, among its other duties. In 2018, as a member of HASC, Gabbard moved an amendment for better personal protective equipment for civil defense agencies near active volcanic activity, and the amendment was adopted by the house with a voice vote. In her fourth term, Gabbard served on the Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence, which has jurisdiction over Department of Defense programs related to military intelligence, national intelligence, and counter-terrorism among its wide range of intelligence related responsibilities. This subcommittee of the HASC, whose role includes oversight of critical military activities in the areas of Special Operations Forces and Intelligence operations was called the subcommittee on "Intelligence, Emerging Threats and Capabilities" during Gabbard's term in the 116th Congress, and was renamed as the subcommittee on "Intelligence and Special Operations" in 117th Congress. As a member of the Intelligence subcommittee, Gabbard attended several key hearings on emerging intelligence threats, including a 2019 session on securing the nation's internet architecture, which discussed cyber threats from adversaries and received inputs from the intelligence community on cyber espionage. In another hearing in 2020 on artificial intelligence, the committee discussed inputs on advanced battle management systems powered by powerful data analytics and the future of warfighting. The committee members also received operational and intelligence oversight briefings from the Department of Defense. Her committee memberships are mentioned below:

Caucus memberships (2013-2021)

Gabbard has been a member of several congressional caucuses advocating issues of several communities, notable among them being her service with Asian Pacific American Caucus often addressing concerns of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). Her caucus memberships are listed below:

Democratic National Committee

On January 22, 2013, Gabbard was unanimously elected to a four-year term as a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. In September 2015, she criticized 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, and to exclude any candidate who participated in a non-DNC sanctioned debate from all future DNC-sanctioned debates. In a 2015 Facebook post, Gabbard released a statement about the heated and public disagreements surrounding the debates, again urging the Democratic Party to open up the process. Following her public criticisms of the debate process, Gabbard was reported to have been either "disinvited" or asked to "consider not coming" to the October 13, 2015, Democratic debate in Las Vegas. In an interview with The New York Times, she spoke of an unhealthy atmosphere, saying, "no one told me I would be relinquishing my freedom of speech and checking it at the door" in taking the job. Gabbard privately wrote to Wasserman Schultz, accusing her of violating the DNC's duty of neutrality by favoring Hillary Clinton. Gabbard resigned as DNC vice chair on February 28, 2016 in order to endorse Senator Bernie Sanders's candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination for president of the United States. On that same day, she appeared on Meet the Press and discussed why she was stepping down. 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' running mate in California for any write-in votes for him. Shortly after the election, she was mentioned as a possible presidential candidate for 2020. In the 2016 United States presidential election, a Minnesota faithless elector voted Sanders for president and Gabbard for vice president, but as per Minnesota law the elector was immediately replaced by someone who followed procedure, voting for Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine.

2020 presidential campaign

In February 2019, Gabbard officially launched her 2020 presidential campaign. Gabbard was the first female combat veteran to run for president. CNN described her foreign policy platform as anti-interventionist and her economic platform as populist. Gabbard was the most frequently Googled candidate after the first, second, and fourth 2020 Democratic debates. While Gabbard did not meet the polling threshold for the third presidential debate, she did qualify for the fourth debate in Ohio in October 2019. In July 2019, Gabbard was the only 2020 presidential candidate to visit Puerto Rico and join protests urging Governor Ricardo Rosselló to resign. In October 2019, former secretary of state and 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said that Republicans were "grooming" a female Democrat to run as a third-party candidate, who would help president Donald Trump win reelection via a spoiler effect. She also referred to Gabbard directly as "a favorite of the Russians." Gabbard repeatedly said she would not run as a third-party candidate in 2020 and did not do so. Gabbard filed a defamation lawsuit against Clinton in January 2020, but dropped it five months later with her lawyers stating the legal merit was valid but living in a "post-Covid world" they could better focus their attention elsewhere. To represent her in her lawsuit against Clinton, Gabbard retained two attorneys with the Los Angeles law firm Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht and Davidoff Hutcher & Citron which, during the Mueller probe into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, also had represented George Papadopoulos and Rudy Giuliani. On March 3, 2020, Gabbard, who is of Samoan descent, earned two delegates in American Samoa, making her the second woman of color (after Shirley Chisholm) and the first Asian-American and Pacific-Islander presidential candidate to earn primary delegates. She was also the only non-white Democratic party candidate to earn delegates in the 2020 election cycle. On March 19, 2020, Gabbard dropped out of the 2020 election and endorsed former vice president Joe Biden. Gabbard was the only candidate with primary delegates to not be invited to the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

Post-presidential primary activities (2020–2021)

In July 2020, the family of Vanessa Guillén, a U.S. Army soldier and victim of military sexual harassment who was found murdered after previously being reported missing, met with Gabbard. She said that as a fellow service member in the U.S. Army, she was "stand[ing] here for Vanessa", "for her family". In August 2020, Gabbard and Scott Miscovich held a press conference lauding Jennifer Smith, the state's epidemiological specialist who blew the whistle regarding the Hawaii Department of Health's lack of contact tracers to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Smith was put on paid leave and Gabbard again came in support of Smith. In November 2020, Smith returned to work from her paid leave. In September 2020, Gabbard filed paperwork with the FEC to change her presidential campaign committee, Tulsi Now, into Tulsi Aloha, a leadership PAC, as well as a legal expense trust fund to pay off debts from the lawsuit against Clinton. Later that same month, she weighed in to the public disagreement surrounding the Netflix film Cuties, alleging that Netflix was "complicit" in "help[ing] fuel the child sex trafficking trade".

Post-congressional activities (2021–2022)

In January 2021, Gabbard launched her own podcast, called This is Tulsi Gabbard. She also made several appearances on Fox News programs since leaving Congress, where she criticized figures such as House speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. representative Adam Schiff, calling the latter a "domestic terrorist" for what she deemed as his attempt to "undermin[e] our constitution by trying to take away our civil liberties and rights" in the aftermath of the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol. In November 2021, she celebrated the victory of Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin in the Virginia Gubernatorial election over Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe, and tweeted, "McAuliffe's loss is a victory for all Americans. Why? Because it was a resounding rejection of efforts to divide us by race, the stripping of parental rights, and arrogant, deaf leaders. This benefits us all". In an appearance on Hannity in April 2022, she expressed support for Florida's publicly debated Parental Rights Bill, and said that in her opinion it did not go far enough in that it only covered grades K through 3, while Gabbard believed it should have continued all the way through twelfth grade. (A follow-up bill in the state did just that one year later. ) In 2022 Gabbard spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference, drawing criticism from Hawaii Democrats.

Departure from the Democratic Party (2022)

On October 11, 2022, Gabbard announced on Twitter that she was leaving the Democratic Party, accusing its leadership of "cowardly wokeness, anti-white racism, (being) hostile to people of faith and spirituality, and dragging us closer to nuclear war". Shortly thereafter, Gabbard endorsed and campaigned for several Donald Trump-supported Republican candidates in the 2022 midterm elections. Among those she endorsed were Senate candidates Don Bolduc, Adam Laxalt and JD Vance, and Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

Political talk show personality (2022 onwards)

In August 2022, Gabbard started serving as the fill-in host for Tucker Carlson Tonight and continued to be a frequent guest host of Tucker Carlson Tonight until its cancellation in 2023. In November 2022, Gabbard signed a deal with Fox News as a paid contributor after years of being a frequent guest on several of their programs. She also serves as a frequent guest and occasional host on shows such as The Five, Outnumbered, Hannity, Jesse Watters Primetime, Gutfeld!, and more.

Joining the Republican Party (2024)

Following Trump's entry into the 2024 Republican presidential primary, commentators suggested that Gabbard may be considered by Trump as a potential vice presidential running mate. On February 22, 2024, she was a featured speaker at CPAC, raising speculation of her candidacy as a potential vice presidential selection. During a Fox & Friends interview on March 6, Gabbard was directly asked about serving as Trump's vice-president. She responded, "I would be honored to serve our country in that way and be in a position to help President Trump." In March 2024, Gabbard was cited by Trump as one of his potential choices for his vice presidential running mate. On August 26, 2024 Gabbard endorsed Trump's re-election bid during a National Guard Association gathering in Michigan. The next day, Gabbard was named as an honorary co-chair of Donald Trump's presidential transition team, alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr., joining the former president's sons and the Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance. On October 22, 2024 while speaking at a Trump rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, Gabbard announced she was joining the Republican Party.

Nomination for director of national intelligence (2024)

In November 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he had chosen Gabbard to serve as the director of national intelligence in his second term, citing her two decades of experience in the military with the U.S. Army Reserve and Hawaii Army National Guard, further stating that Gabbard would bring “a fearless spirit” to the intelligence agencies and secure “peace through strength.” If confirmed, she will be the first Pacific Islander American and first Hindu American to serve in a Cabinet-level position. The nomination received mixed reactions, with some expressing support citing her military veteran background, while several others considering it controversial, including some intelligence community members and conservative commentators. She received criticism for her lack of experience in the area of intelligence, and her controversial foreign positions on Russia, China, Syria, and Iran. Not all reactions went according to party line, however. Jeh Johnson, who ran the Department of Homeland Security during the second term of President Barack Obama, found the pick intriguing. According to The NY Times, there is "no evidence" that Gabbard "has ever collaborated in any way with Russia's intelligence agencies". Unnamed analysts and former officials have observed that Tulsi Gabbard's foreign policy stances, particularly her advocacy for less confrontational policies towards Russia, resonate with narratives often promoted by Russian state media. However, in February 2022, Gabbard publicly stated her opposition to Russia's military operation in Ukraine, indicating a nuanced view on these issues. Gabbard's nomination garnered support from segments that were aligned with her view against military interventions, and her calls for reform in intelligence agencies resonated with those advocating for more transparency and accountability. Supporters argued that Gabbard's willingness to challenge the status quo and call out corruption within the intelligence community could bring a new direction that prioritizes national interests and accountability over entrenched bureaucratic interests. Many Democrats have alleged that Gabbard's criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy can be viewed as her sympathy for Russia, and her concern about NATO expansion may be assumed as supportive of Russian position on Ukraine war. However, several Republican senators have called Democrats' allegations unfounded, noting that having different political views on the Ukraine war should not be a basis for wild allegations against Gabbard, especially as she has been serving in the Army National Guard and Army Reserve for over two decades. Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin took strong exception to allegations against Gabbard by Democrat Tammy Duckworth, stating, "That's the most dangerous thing she (Duckworth) could say — is that a United States lieutenant colonel in the United States Army is compromised and is an asset of Russia.", referring to Gabbard's current rank as lieutenant colonel. Republican Senator Eric Schmitt said that it was a "slur" to call Gabbard a "Russian asset" and told NBC News' Kristen Welker on "Meet the Press" regarding Democrat allegations that "anybody that has a different political view now is being cast as a Russian asset", further pointing out that Gabbard has "served this country honorably" in the military.

Domestic policy positions

While in 2020 Democratic presidential primary, Gabbard's political positions were broadly moderate on domestic policy issues, after 2020, she has taken more conservative positions on culture war social issues, including abortion, gun control and transgender rights. In 2022, Gabbard introduced a bill to ban Trans-women from female sports, and supports that women sports should be for biological females, a position popular with conservatives. In 2022, she was also a featured speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). She has also been a frequent critic of the Biden administration.

Drug policy and criminal justice reform

Gabbard has been outspoken against a "broken criminal justice system" that puts "people in prison for smoking marijuana" while allowing pharmaceutical corporations responsible for "opioid-related deaths of thousands to walk away scot-free with their coffers full". Gabbard has said that as president she would "end the failed war on drugs, legalize marijuana, end cash bail, and ban private prisons". Bills she has introduced include the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act and the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act. In January 2020, in response to a question from a voter, Gabbard called for legalizing and regulating all drugs, citing Portugal's model for drug decriminalization. In June 2020, Gabbard introduced an amendment to the House version of the 2021 NDAA to allow members of Armed Services to use products containing CBD and other hemp derivatives. It was approved 336 to 71 as a package, although House leaders did not fight for its inclusion in the final bill.

Immigration

Gabbard along with 47 other Democrats expressed support in 2015 for increased border security and voted with Republicans for vetting of Iraqi and Syrian refugees. At that time, Gabbard also called for halting the visa waiver program after mass numbers of Syrian immigrants entered Germany, until the threat of terrorist attacks was resolved. However, between 2013 and 2021, Gabbard had also expressed support for an easier path to citizenship for immigrants without legal status, increasing skilled immigration, and granting work visas to immigrants. By 2022, she had said she would be open to a proposal for a border wall if experts say it is warranted.

Environment

Gabbard has often supported the causes of Native Americans and tribal lands, such as her support for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against the construction of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016, wherein she co-signed a letter requesting the Obama administration to address the tribal concerns about the project. Gabbard successfully passed an amendment to the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that would require the Department of Energy to reexamine the safety of the Runit Dome, a leaking Cold War era nuclear waste site in the Marshall Islands. She later called for "fresh eyes" to ensure a more independent assessment of the waste site's safety. Gabbard has spoken in favor of a Green New Deal but expressed concerns about vagueness in some proposed versions of the legislation and its inclusion of nuclear energy. She advocates her own "Off Fossil Fuels for a Better Future Act" ("OFF Act") as legislation to transition the United States to renewable energy.

Healthcare and GMO labeling

Gabbard supports a national healthcare insurance program that covers uninsured, as well as under-insured people, and allows supplemental but not duplicative private insurance. She has since advocated for a two-tier universal health care plan that she calls "Single Payer Plus", loosely modeled after Australia's system and allowing for both supplementary and duplicative private insurance. Gabbard has previously pushed to reinstate Medicaid eligibility for people from the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau who are working and living in the United States. She has called for addressing the national nursing shortage and supports clear GMO labeling, voting in 2016 against a GMO-labeling bill she said was too weak.

First impeachment of Donald Trump

Gabbard voted "present" when the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump in December 2019. In two video messages and a press release, she cited The Federalist Papers essay No. 65, and described her vote as a protest against "a political zero-sum game". Gabbard introduced H. Res. 766, which would censure Trump for several of his foreign policy decisions and "send a strong message to this president and future presidents that their abuses of power will not go unchecked, while leaving the question of removing Trump from office to the voters to decide". A week later, Gabbard said she had serious concerns that the impeachment would increase the likelihood that her party would lose the presidential election and its majority in the House of Representatives.

LGBTQ rights

Gabbard’s views on LGBTQ rights have changed over the years, as evidenced by her 2013 signing of an amicus brief supporting gay marriage while in her early years, she was associated with her father's campaign opposing gay marriage. In 1998, when she was 17 years old, Gabbard supported her father's successful campaign to amend the Constitution of Hawaii to give lawmakers the power to "reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples". She also favored the Federal Marriage Amendment that would prevent overriding state law with regard to same-sex marriage. In 2012, Gabbard apologized for her "anti-gay advocacy" and said she would "fight for the repeal" of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In June 2013, she was an initial cosponsor of the legislation to repeal DOMA. Gabbard was a member of the House LGBT Equality Caucus. She received ratings of 92%, 88%, 100%, and 84% for her four congressional terms for pro-LGBT legislation from the Human Rights Campaign, a group that advocates for LGBT rights. After launching her presidential campaign in 2019, Gabbard apologized for her past anti-gay views and said that her views had been changed by her experience in the military "with LGBTQ service members, both here at home and while deployed". After criticism from Democrats over her past anti-gay remarks, she was defended by conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, journalist Glenn Greenwald, and openly gay representative Sean Patrick Maloney. On December 10, 2020, Gabbard and Republican U.S. representative Markwayne Mullin introduced a bill titled the "Protect Women's Sports Act" that would seek to define Title IX protections on the basis of an individual's biological sex, making it a violation for institutions that receive federal funding to "permit a person whose biological sex at birth is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls". If passed, this bill would effectively ban many transgender athletes from participating in programs corresponding with their gender identity. After introducing the bill, Gabbard was condemned by activists and LGBTQ organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign, which said: "Gabbard has lost all credibility as an ally." On April 4, 2022, Gabbard endorsed the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, which prohibits public schools in Florida from having "classroom discussion" or giving "classroom instruction" about sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through third grade or in any manner deemed to be against state standards in all grades. She said that the bill "bans government and government schools from indoctrinating woke sexual values in our schools to a captive audience". She also suggested that the bill should apply to all grades.

Foreign policy positions

In her foreign policy positions, Gabbard has taken a strong stand against Islamic extremism in the Middle East and supported tough actions against terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda and ISIS. She describes herself as a hawk "when it comes to the war against terrorists", but a dove "when it comes to counterproductive wars of regime change".<ref name="PeaceWarrinGroup">* Gabbard has also called for reducing military interventionism by the United States, such as in Ukraine. She criticizes what she describes as a push by the "neoliberal/neoconservative war machine" and "media giants ruled by corporate interests who are in the pocket of the establishment war machine" for U.S. involvement in "counterproductive, wasteful regime change wars", stating they have not made the United States any safer and have contributed to a New Cold War and nuclear arms race. Some lawmakers have accused Gabbard of taking foreign policy positions they saw as sympathetic to Russia, and these positions have often resulted in praise from Russian media. Yet, foreign policy analysts have found no evidence connecting Gabbard to any Russian agencies. Instead, her advocacy for improving diplomatic ties with Russia is frequently noted in foreign media.

Israel and Palestine

After Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Gabbard came out strongly in support of Israel and condemned Hamas, calling it an Islamist terrorist organization. In November 2023, she attended the March for Israel at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. She has called pro-Palestine protesters in the US "puppets of a radical Islamist organization". Gabbard is opposed to a ceasefire in Gaza. In an interview uploaded to YouTube in February, she called Hamas a “threat that needs to be defeated militarily and ideologically”. When asked what she thought about the US supporting a UN resolution that seeks a ceasefire in Gaza, Gabbard said it needs to be approached strategically. “We have to be realists about the threat that continues to exist for the people of Israel. So as long as Hamas is in power, the people of Israel will not be secure and cannot live in peace.”

Middle East

During her time in Congress, Gabbard took a strong stand against Islamic terrorism in the Middle East, often invoking her experience as a veteran of the Iraq War. In some of her appearances on Fox News between 2013 and 2017, she faulted President Obama over his refusal to refer to the Islamic State’s beliefs and terrorism as "Islamic extremism" or "radical Islam". In a 2015 interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Gabbard criticized the Obama administration for "refusing" to say that the "real enemy" of the United States is Islamic extremists. Gabbard expressed reservations about the US involvement in Syrian civil war, and said that “We must end our war to overthrow the Syrian government and focus our attention on defeating al-Qaeda and ISIS”. On January 18, 2017, Gabbard went on a one-week "fact-finding mission" to Syria and Lebanon, during which Gabbard met various political and religious leaders from Syria and Lebanon – as well as regular citizens from both sides of the Syrian civil war – and also had two unplanned meetings with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. When questioned about the meeting with Assad, Gabbard clarified that “Originally, I had no intention of meeting with Assad, but when given the opportunity, I felt it was important to take it. I think we should be ready to meet with anyone if there’s a chance it can help bring about an end to this war, which is causing the Syrian people so much suffering.” In April 2017, Gabbard expressed skepticism about claims that Assad used chemical weapons against civilians in Khan Shaykhun, and which were followed by a military attack against Syria by the United States. Gabbard said, "a successful prosecution of Assad (at the International Criminal Court) w[ould] require collection of evidence from the scene of the incident", and that she "support[ed] the United Nations' efforts in this regard". In a 2018 interview with The Nation, Gabbard said the United States had "been waging a regime change war in Syria since 2011". Her stance on Assad led to disagreement with mainstream Democrats. Gabbard faced further criticism after stating during an MSNBC interview in 2019 that "Assad is not the enemy of the United States." She later called Assad "a brutal dictator just like Saddam Hussein." On December 20, 2019, the Stop Arming Terrorists Act that she introduced in 2017 became law as part of National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, § 1228 to prohibit the Department of Defense from "knowingly providing weapons or any other form of support to Al Qaeda" or other terrorist groups or any individual or group affiliated with any such organization. Gabbard was critical of the U.S. military's 2020 Baghdad International Airport airstrike (which killed high-level Iranian General Qasem Soleimani) as an act of war by U.S. president Donald Trump and a violation of the U.S. Constitution, arguing that Trump did not have congressional authorization for this act.

Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Gabbard was accused of defending Russian's invasion of Ukraine after blaming Ukraine's goal of joining NATO for causing the war and repeating Russian conspiracy theories surrounding Ukrainian laboratories. In early February 2022, Gabbard suggested that "President Biden could end this crisis and prevent a war with Russia by doing something very simple: Guaranteeing that Ukraine will not become a member of NATO." Gabbard further argued that, given that the likelihood of Ukraine joining NATO was low, why did the Biden administration and NATO leaders not simply acknowledge this by providing guarantees. She expressed skepticism about the motives behind not resolving the issue, suggesting that the U.S. might want Russia to invade Ukraine to justify imposing severe economic sanctions on Russia, which she described as a "modern-day siege against Russia and the Russian people," and to perpetuate a new Cold War, benefiting defense contractors at the expense of American, Ukrainian, and Russian citizens. On February 23, 2022, shortly after the war began, Gabbard wrote that the conflict "could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns …." On February 27, 2022, Gabbard advocated for a peaceful resolution through neutrality, stating, "It's time to put geopolitics aside and embrace the spirit of aloha, respect and love, for the Ukrainian people by coming to an agreement that Ukraine will be a neutral country …. [T]here would be no Russian or NATO troops on each other's non-Baltic borders. This would allow the Ukrainian people to live in peace."

Japan and China

Gabbard has said that "As we remember Japan's aggression in the Pacific, we need to ask ourselves this question: is the remilitarization of Japan, which is presently underway, truly a good idea? We need to be careful that shortsighted, self-serving leaders do not end up bringing us again face-to-face with a remilitarized Japan".

Azerbaijan and Armenia

Gabbard has often expressed her support for the Armenian Christian population in the conflict with Azerbaijan. In 2017, Gabbard was part of a team of US lawmakers that visited Armenia, including the disputed, breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is also claimed by Azerbaijan; she was thus blacklisted by Azerbaijan. Later, she accused Turkey of encouraging and inciting 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, and co-signed a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressing concern over Azerbaijan's renewed aggression against Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) and possible conflict with Armenia. Gabbard stated that the United States must urge Azerbaijan to immediately end their attacks, and Turkey to cease its involvement both directly and indirectly. In 2019, Gabbard was a co-sponsor of the Armenian Genocide Resolution legislation, along with several other US senators and US representatives, to lock in official US recognition and permanent remembrance of the Armenian Genocide. While talking about the 1915 mass killings, Gabbard said, "the Ottoman Empire was attempting to cleanse itself of the Armenian and Christian populations, and the US became home to many survivors". Eventually, in 2021, despite opposition by Turkey, President Joe Biden recognized the Ottoman-era mass killings of Armenians as a genocide.

Personal life

Gabbard lived in Hawaii for most of her early childhood and has been a lifelong surfer. A yoga enthusiast, she regularly practices morning yoga and meditation. She has mentioned being a vegetarian, though some sources have reported her as a vegan. According to Gabbard, she grew up with Hindu values. She follows the Vaishnava tradition of the Hindu faith, and values as her spiritual guide the Bhagavad Gita, which includes the principles of Karma and Dharma. She has also described herself as a Karma Yogi (action-oriented Yogi). She took the oath of office in 2013 with her personal copy of the Bhagavad Gita. After moving to Washington, D.C., Gabbard lived across the Anacostia River with her sister, Vrindavan, a US marshal. She has worked on several efforts for military veterans, and also noted being inspired by President John F. Kennedy. Among other activities in D.C., Gabbard has been participating in the celebration of Diwali, the Indian festival of lights, along with members from the Indian-American community. In 2016, she supported the campaign by Hindu-Americans for a Diwali commemorative stamp in the United States, noting that the Diwali festival honors values such as righteousness "that transcend different religions, and backgrounds.” She and her family have been associated with Science of Identity Foundation (SIF), a Vaishnava Hindu and Bhakti Yoga affiliated organization. She described that SIF's leader, Mr. Butler, was like a guide and "essentially like a Vaishnava Hindu pastor" during her early years. Gabbard has often mentioned that the teachings of selfless action from the Bhagavad Gita motivated her towards social work. Later in 2014, as a Congresswoman, she also presented a copy of the Bhagavad Gita to India's prime minister Modi, on the latter's visit to the United States. Gabbard supported the efforts of PM Modi for declaration of an International Yoga Day by the United Nations. After moving to Hawaii, Gabbard's parents had joined the circle of disciples around the founder of the SIF connected with ISKCON, and gave Hindu names to all their children. Gabbard's own name is the Sanskrit word for holy basil, regarded as an earthly manifestation of the goddess Tulasi. At the age of 21, in 2002, Gabbard married Eduardo Tamayo. She was deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005, serving with the National Guard. Gabbard was divorced in 2006, citing "the stresses war places on military spouses and families" as a reason for the divorce. In 2015, Gabbard married freelance cinematographer and editor Abraham Williams, the son of her Honolulu office manager, in a traditional Vedic wedding ceremony. While on Meghan McCain's podcast in 2024, Gabbard mentioned that she and Williams had tried to start a family and had undergone several in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures, without success. Gabbard has also been a presenter at iHeartRadio Honolulu's virtual festival, Island Music Awards 2020. Having grown up in Hawaii, Gabbard has noted her lifelong appreciation for the Hawaiian culture and its Aloha spirit, which broadly refers to values such as peace, compassion, and pleasantness. She often greets others with the Aloha salutation, describing it as "I come to you with respect and with love."

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 20, 2014, Elle magazine honored Gabbard, with others, at the Italian Embassy in the United States during its annual "Women in Washington Power List". On February 26, 2015, Gabbard received the National Association of Counties County Alumni Award for her "steadfast commitment to the nation's counties". On July 15, 2015, Gabbard received the Friend of the National Parks Award from the National Parks Conservation Association. 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. On October 16, 2018, Gabbard was honored as Hawai'i Pacific University's 2018 Paul T. C. Loo Distinguished Alumni.

Published works