Tulsi Gabbard (born April 12, 1981) is an American politician. She was a member of the Democratic Party until 2022, when she left the party to become an Independent. She was the United States Representative for Hawaii's second congressional district from 2013 to 2021. She was also a vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee until 28 February 2016. She resigned in order to support Senator Bernie Sanders for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.
Gabbard was elected in 2012. She is the first American Samoan and the first Hindu member of the United States Congress. Along with Tammy Duckworth, she is also one of its first female combat veterans.
In January 2019, Gabbard announced her plans to run for President of the United States in the 2020 presidential election. On October 25, 2019, Gabbard announced that she will not seek another term in Congress. She dropped out from the primaries on March 19, 2020 and announced her support for Joe Biden. After leaving the U.S. House in 2021, she became more conservative on social issues such as abortion and transgender rights and even spoke at the 2022 CPAC.