Tulsi Gabbard Is The Only Remaining Primary Candidate Who Is Lifelong Democrat & Backed Bernie Sanders In 2016
With Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg out of the Democratic presidential primary, only Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, businessman Michael Bloomberg, and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard remain. Although Gabbard does not appear to have any path to the nomination, she interestingly remains the only candidate left in the race who is a lifelong Democrat. Not only that, of the 2016 Democratic Party superdelegates in the race — Biden, Gabbard, and Warren — she is the only one who supported Sanders against Hillary Clinton in the last election’s primary.
While Sanders has been an Independent for most of his political career and Biden was briefly a registered Independent, Warren and Bloomberg were formerly Republicans. Despite Politico noting the bad blood between Gabbard and the Democratic establishment, she is the only remaining candidate in the primary who has been a Democrat for the entirety of her political career.
As The Guardian previously reported, Gabbard stepped down as vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in 2016 to support Sanders after what she perceived as bias against the 78-year-old politician in favor of Clinton. According to the 38-year-old congresswoman, she threw her support behind Sanders due to his cautious foreign policy goals.
“I served in a medical unit during my first deployment, where every single day I saw first hand the very high human cost of that war. I see it in my friends who now, a decade after we’ve come home, are still struggling to get out of a black hole.”
New from @edokeefe—@PeteButtigieg is also expected to endorse Joe Biden at the former vice president's Dallas rally tonight. He will appear alongside Amy Klobuchar who earlier today suspended her campaign and said she will throw her support behind Biden. pic.twitter.com/mGruKEKUzF
— Natalie Brand (@NatalieABrand) March 2, 2020
As for the 2020 primary, Biden was endorsed by Klobuchar and appears poised to gain support from Buttigieg. Warren has made it clear that she will remain in the race to win as many delegates as possible, which has commentators suggesting she is looking to stop Sanders from earning the nomination.
NEW: In memo, Elizabeth Warren campaign manager @RogerLau basically admits the Warren candidacy is now a convention effort.
“no candidate will likely have a path to the majority of delegates”
“Milwaukee is the final play.”
“ultimately prevail at the national convention” pic.twitter.com/UDscXO7VYF
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) March 1, 2020
On the other hand, Gabbard has remained firmly against the regime change wars promoted by Clinton and much of the Democratic establishment, which aligns with Sanders’ foreign policy agenda.
“These are terrible dictators, but you’ve got to be thinking about the day after,” Sanders said of Clinton’s support of U.S. military intervention in Libya. “I would’ve done it differently if I were president of the United States,” he added.
Gabbard previously slammed Clinton as the “queen of warmongers,” embodiment of corruption,” and “personification of the rot” she believes has dragged down the Democratic Party for years. She also said that there has been a concerted effort to destroy her 2020 candidacy and believes that Clinton is responsible and pulling strings via her “proxies” and “powerful allies in the corporate media.”
