Democrat Gabbard says she will run for
U.S. president in 2020
Send a link to a friend
[January 12, 2019]
By Makini Brice
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S.
Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii said in remarks aired by CNN on
Friday that she will run for president in 2020, becoming the latest
member of her party to pursue a challenge to Republican President Donald
Trump.
"I have decided to run and will be making a formal announcement within
the next week," Gabbard, a liberal 37-year-old Iraq War veteran as well
as the first Hindu and first Samoan-American elected to the U.S.
Congress, told CNN.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on Dec. 31 announced she
had formed an exploratory committee for a White House run in what is
expected to be a crowded Democratic primary field before the November
2020 presidential election.
Gabbard said "the issue of war and peace" would be the main focus of her
campaign.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Jan/12/images/ads/current/cca_laptop-sda021709.png)
Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Democratic presidential field could eventually include Senators
Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand, as well as former
Vice President Joe Biden. Julian Castro, former President Barack Obama's
housing secretary, also formed an exploratory committee in December.
In the race to pick a candidate to run against Trump, Democrats will
grapple with the tension between the party's establishment and liberal
wings that flared during the 2016 state-by-state nominating contests
between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie
Sanders, an independent who ran under the Democratic banner.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/011219pics/news_q29.jpg)
U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) speaks after being awarded
a Frontier Award during a ceremony at the Kennedy School of
Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts
November 25, 2013. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
Gabbard made headlines in 2016 by quitting a leadership post at the
Democratic National Committee over the party's decision to limit the
number of debates between Clinton and Sanders, with analysts believing
fewer debates benefited Clinton. Clinton ultimately won the Democratic
nomination but lost to Trump.
The congresswoman then endorsed Sanders for president, becoming one of
the few members of Congress to do so. Gabbard remains popular with some
liberals but will have serious competition with other candidates on the
left flank of the party.
Gabbard has also drawn criticism for secretly meeting with Syria's
President Bashar al-Assad, whose removal from power she opposes, during
a 2017 trip to the war-ravaged country.
Iowa holds the first presidential nominating contest in 13 months.
Warren informally kicked off the 2020 Democratic presidential nominating
fight on visit last weekend to Iowa, condemning the corrupting influence
of money on politics and lamenting lost economic opportunities for
working families.
(Reporting by James Oliphant and Makini Brice; Editing by Eric Beech and
Will Dunham)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |