Tulsi Gabbard Won’t Run For Congress In 2020, Wants To Focus On Presidential Bid

Democratic Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard announced Thursday that she will not run for re-election for her seat in Congress in 2020 because she wants to focus on winning the Democratic presidential nomination.

“I’m fully committed to my offer to serve you, the people of Hawaii & America, as your President & Commander-in-Chief. So I will not be seeking reelection to Congress in 2020. I humbly ask for your support for my candidacy for President of the United States,” Gabbard tweeted early Friday with a link to her video announcement.

Gabbard began the video by expressing her gratitude to the people of Hawaii, and continued on to discuss what she plans to do if elected president in 2020.

“As President, I will immediately begin work to end the new Cold War and nuclear arms race, end our interventionist foreign policy of carrying out regime change wars, and redirect our precious resources towards serving the needs of the people here at home,” Gabbard said in her announcement, adding that she would lead the country with “aloha,” a Hawaiian term that embodies love, peace, and compassion.

“Washington, our country, and the world is in dire need of aloha,” Gabbard continued. “Only aloha has the power to heal the divisive wounds in our nation. Only aloha has the power to bring our nation together — recognizing we are all God’s children, and we are all Americans.  As President, I will lead with aloha — putting people ahead of profits, putting people ahead of politics, putting the wellbeing of our people and our planet above all else.”

The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate recently made headlines for her feud with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who insinuated in a podcast Oct. 17 that Republicans were grooming her for a third-party candidacy. Hillary added that the candidate, likely speaking about Gabbard, is “the favorite of the Russians.”

Gabbard hit back at Hillary and called her “the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that sickened the Democratic Party for so long” in a tweet Oct. 18.

The congresswoman has also been vocal about media outlets slandering her, blasting the New York Times and CNN while on stage at the Democratic debate Oct. 15 for suggesting that she is a Russian asset and an Assad apologist. These were the two outlets moderating the October debate.

An Iowa Democratic caucus poll released Monday put Gabbard at 3%, NBC News reported.