Tulsi Gabbard announces departure from Democratic Party

Former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard announced on Twitter this week that she is leaving the Democratic Party after serving as a Democratic Representative from 2013 to 2021.

In a video posted to her Twitter account on Tuesday, Gabbard notified her followers that she can “no longer” remain a part of the Democratic Party.

She accused the party of being “under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism.”

She went on to say Democrats “actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are hostile to people of faith & spirituality, demonize the police & 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, dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.”

Attached to the Twitter thread is a video statement in which Gabbard went on to say the Democratic Party “stands for a government that is of, by and for the powerful elite,” instead of a government that is of the people, by the people and for the people.” 

Gabbard’s departure from the party comes after a failed 2020 presidential bid, which ended on March 19, 2020, when she suspended her campaign and endorsed now-President Joe Biden.

She is also a US Army Reserve officer and served in Kuwait as an Army Military Police platoon leader from 2008-2009 and Iraq from 2004-2005. During her 2020 campaign, she was often accused of leaning toward Republican ideals. She also delivered a scheduled address at this year’s CPAC event earlier this year.