Vice Presidential Possibility Adds to Tulsi Gabbard’s Mystique
By Dan Nakaso
Feb. 26, 2024
Tulsi Gabbard spoke during Thursday’s Conservative Political Action Conference at the National Harbor, CPAC 2024, in Oxon Hill, Md.
Former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s name on the short list of Donald Trump’s candidates for vice president only adds to the enigmatic political career of a former rising star of the Democratic Party who later denounced Democrats and sued Hillary Clinton for $50 million for defamation.
Gabbard previously served in the state House and Honolulu City Council before winning her first of four 2nd Congressional District races beginning in 2012 to represent the neighbor islands and rural Oahu.
Initially, she seemed in lockstep with the rest of Hawaii’s congressional delegation, but soon drew national, conservative media attention for a string of surprising stances, including critical comments of Hawaii son and then-President Barack Obama, support for the Syrian regime and a failed run for president in 2020.
At the end of her congressional career, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Hawaii Poll” found Gabbard with the lowest approval rating of Hawaii’s four congressional representatives — including an unfavorable rating of 41% on Oahu.
Gabbard’s highest support came from Republicans on Oahu, 58%, followed by men and independents (both 49%) and whites and those 50 years and older (both 48%).
Among Oahu Democrats she had a 55% unfavorable ranking.
Gabbard could not be reached for comment last week about Trump considering her.
Gabbard’s father, state Sen. Mike Gabbard (D, Kapolei- Makakilo-Kalaeloa), did not respond to a request for comment.
Tamara McKay, state chair of Hawaii’s Republican Party, said she does not know where Tulsi Gabbard lives or what she does to earn a living.
But McKay applauded Trump for considering Gabbard as his running mate, saying she would augment the ticket as a woman who is also a war veteran.
Picking Gabbard, McKay said, would send “so many messages about women, the military, showing that the Democratic Party has gone down a dark path and we need to unify.”
Asked to speculate how their personalities and styles would mesh, McKay said, “He has his own style and she has her own style.”
During a Fox News town hall event last week hosted by Laura Ingraham, Politico reported that Trump said he was considering half a dozen running mates that include Gabbard, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, once Trump’s bitter political rival.
Others include biotech entrepreneur and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
“Are they all on your shortlist?” Ingraham asked, according to Politico.
“They are,” Trump said, then added, “Honestly, all of those people are good. They’re all good, they’re all solid.”
Scott attended the town hall and received the most praise from Trump, according to Politico. Scott dropped out of the Republican primary in 2023 and has endorsed Trump and campaigned for him before last week’s South Carolina primary, which Trump easily won.
The New York Times reported that Gabbard placed third in a straw poll of potential Trump running mates behind Noem and Ramaswamy, who tied with 15% of the votes. Gabbard received 9% of the vote.
Gabbard’s embrace of the limelight and controversy are similar to Trump’s and make her unlikely to be picked because their styles would clash, said Colin Moore, who teaches public policy at the University of Hawaii and is associate professor at the University of Hawaii Economic Resource Organization.
“Trump likes to be the center of attention, and Tulsi Gabbard likes to be the center of attention, so it would be difficult to imagine how that would work,” Moore said. “Trump demands loyalty above almost any other quality. Tulsi Gabbard is good on television. She’s always been very good at that. She has genuine charisma. But she hasn’t shown much political loyalty over the years, and she doesn’t bring a lot to the ticket.”
One of the reasons to pick a vice presidential running mate might be to “shore up a weakness in a state you need to win,” Moore said. “But Tulsi Gabbard isn’t particularly popular in Hawaii.”
“She is a singular figure in American politics,” Moore said. “That’s why she generates so much frustration and interest. For better or worse, Tulsi Gabbard is never afraid to speak her mind. But does she take heartfelt positions or use them as political opportunities?”
During her short campaign for president, Gabbard flip-flopped on her earlier denunciation of gays and lesbians and apologized for her work for an anti-gay advocacy group founded by her father, the Alliance for Traditional Marriage.
The group helped pass a constitutional amendment giving the Legislature the power to ban same-sex marriages, which are now legal in Hawaii.
Gabbard also filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Clinton, which Gabbard later withdrew.
Without identifying Gabbard, Clinton had said that one of the Democratic presidential candidates at the time “is the favorite of the Russians,” a statement that Gabbard said “carelessly and recklessly impugned” her reputation.
Gabbard also sued Google for an identical $50 million, saying Google had infringed on her free speech rights by briefly suspending her advertising account.
A U.S. District Court judge agreed with Google’s motion to dismiss Gabbard’s suit.
Gabbard had once supported U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. But in October 2022 she officially burned her bridge with Democrats in Hawaii and around the country by announcing she was leaving the party and asked other Democrats to join her.
“I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms enshrined in our Constitution, are hostile to people of faith and spirituality, demonize the police and protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and above all, are dragging us ever closer to nuclear war,” Gabbard wrote in a lengthy statement at the time.
Gabbard said the Democratic Party “does not believe in our constitutionally protected right to free speech … does not believe in our constitutionally protected right to freedom of religion … does not believe in our constitutionally protected right to bear arms … is ‘Big Brother’ undermining our civil liberties … racializes everything and blatantly foments anti-white racism … is anti-woman … is undermining families … (but is) for the powerful elite.”
Political analyst Neal Milner questions Trump’s sincerity in the potential running mates he listed to Ingraham.
“Trump says all kinds of stuff, and you don’t know if it’s off the top of the head,” Milner said. “Who knows for sure? Trump never follows a traditional Republican playbook. So I wouldn’t take the list all that seriously right now, which means I wouldn’t take her being on the list all that seriously because it’s hard to imagine that Trump thinks he needs someone to win.”
As for Gabbard, Milner said “she’s always been good on camera. She’s an outlier for sure and she appeals to people. How much she appeals to Trump Republicans is hard to read.”