Tulsi Gabbard May Run For US Presidency 2020: Know Her

Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard is likely to run for the US Presidential elections set to be held in 2020, according to sources.

37-year-old Gabbard was elected for the fourth term for the US House of Representatives last week

Recently, at a Medtronic conference in Los Angeles, an eminent Indian-American doctor introduced Gabbard, saying that she could be the next president of the US in 2020.

The statement was marked by a standing ovation, in the presence of Gabbard, a four-term Congresswoman from Hawaii. Gabbard, while addressing the gathering, neither confirmed or denied that she is running for president in 2020. However, it is believed that she and her team has quietly been reaching out to prospective donors, including a large number of Indian Americans, and volunteers to build an impressive campaign. She is known to be highly popular among Indian-Americans. 

If elected in 2020, she could be the youngest ever and first woman to be elected as the US President

Here's everything you should know about her:

• Gabbard was born on April 12, 1981, in Leloaloa, American Samoa.
• Her father is of American Samoan descent. Gabbard was two years old when her family moved to Hawaii.
• She has always spoken about growing up as a mixed-race girl in a multicultural and multireligious household. Her mother is of European descent and a practising Hindu.
• Gabbard embraced Hinduism as a teenager.
• In 2003, while serving in the State Legislature, she enlisted in the Hawaii Army National Guard.
• In 2004, she asked to deploy with the Hawaii Army National Guard unit, volunteering for a 12-month tour in Iraq. She served in a field medical unit as a specialist with the 29th Support Battalion medical company.
• Gabbard won her House seat in 2012.

She was the first US lawmaker to take her oath on the Bhagwat Gita. She is inclined toward the holy book as spiritual guide. 

• Gabbard previously served in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 2002 to 2004, becoming the youngest woman to be elected to a US state legislature at the time at age 21. 
• A former vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Gabbard currently serves on the powerful House Armed Services Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee. She is also the Democratic Co-Chair of the Congressional India Caucus.
• She is the first Samoan American, and the first Hindu member of the United States Congress.

Gabbard recently visited Iowa, where locals urged her to run for president, according to reports. The 2020 presidential cycle is scheduled to kick off from the Iowa Caucuses on February 3, 2020. Among those speculated to run for the 2020 primaries include former vice-president Joe Biden, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Tim Kaine and Indian-origin Senator Kamala Harris.

Featured image credit: The Observer

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