Tulsi Gabbard's Grand Fall

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (I-HI)

As I mentioned a few weeks ago when we did our election night guide, I will be stepping away from politics with a much needed break post the election, and that will be true once we're done with November.  I will admit I left less turned off by politics than I expected (I was petrified I'd not only see Republicans win, but do so with some of the worst candidates imaginable).  But even with me much more enthusiastic about the future of politics in America (assuming that Raphael Warnock wins in the next couple of weeks-go vote Georgia!), I wanted to put a bow on a few thoughts I had about this past election cycle before I go.  We'll surely do an article about the Georgia runoffs, and if anything major happens in the next few weeks, but I will largely stay away from politics, particularly presidential politics, until the new year as we move back into the Oscar season around here.

That being said, one of the phenomena of the past few months that I didn't get to talk about was the strange journey of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a one-time congresswoman from Hawaii who ran (unsuccessfully) for president in 2020 & since then has seen a pointed move toward the right, culminating in her switching to become an Independent candidate on October 11, 2022, just weeks before the midterm elections.  I wanted to talk about the unusual downfall that Gabbard endured, perhaps losing more than any other person not on the ballot on November 8th (except for Donald Trump).

Gabbard's history with the Democratic Party has always been a rocky one.  The daughter of longtime Hawaii State Senator Mike Gabbard, she has always been held at arm's length by the party due to her father's vehement opposition to same-sex marriage.  Gabbard herself worked on campaigns against same-sex marriage as late as 2004, when she was in the state legislature.  Though the younger Gabbard would change her viewpoints on same-sex marriage, eventually cosponsoring legislation to overturn DOMA, she has continually been to the right of much of her caucus on LGTBQ+ rights, particularly when it comes transgender issues & supporting LGBTQ+ educators.

Gabbard's most noted policy shifts from the Democratic Party, though, were in foreign policy.  She met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and supported his claims that he did not use chemical weapons against his citizens.  She has been deeply sympathetic to the Russian position on a number of major foreign policy debates, to the point where Hillary Clinton insinuated that Russians were "grooming" a Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, a statement that was largely assumed to be about Gabbard.  Her positions made for unlikely allies.  In 2020, her presidential campaign received the endorsements of David Duke & Richard Spencer, both white supremacists, and while she declined these endorsements, it cannot be denied that her campaign was gaining a lot of support from the right, which likely led to her both declining to run for reelection (it's certain she would've lost a Democratic Primary at that point) and eventually switching parties.

Gabbard with President Joe Biden during the 
2020 presidential campaign

What couldn't be assumed, though, was that Gabbard's move would have no cache.  For a brief moment in 2020, Gabbard had some support in that primary, albeit never enough to be seen seriously as a plausible nominee.  She won delegates to the DNC (from American Samoa), and had a clear following in the online community.  I personally remember being relieved when she endorsed Joe Biden, as a third party bid (or her moving to endorse Donald Trump) was a real possibility, and arguably the biggest position of power that she had in her career.  But in that moment, she did the right thing and now, it's clear she doesn't have that sort of power anymore.

Most of the candidates that Gabbard stuck her neck out for in a high-profile way lost on November 8th.  Kari Lake, Don Bolduc, Adam Laxalt, Tom Barrett, John Gibbs..all of them got Gabbard's endorsement, all of them lost on Election Day.  It was an embarrassing turn for Gabbard, particularly given what this was clearly meant to be a trial balloon for: being Donald Trump's runningmate.  Gabbard is only 41-years-old, but has no political future in her home state of Hawaii, which is a bastion of blue politics.  The only way she can hold major office again is nationally, and that would be either as a VP nominee for Donald Trump.  You could make an argument for her on any ticket, but she's a harder sell on any ticket other than Trump's given her past positions on climate change & abortion; Trump's loyal following in the Republican Party & unorthodox approach to politics (while being completely devoted to Russia) makes Gabbard a good fit for his policy portfolio.  If not VP, she clearly would be a potential contender for a future Republican administration, likely trying for Secretary of State or Defense.  But given how she gained the Republicans nothing in 2022, it seems more likely that Gabbard is headed to the status of electoral footnote, a former congresswoman who is at best an historical curiosity for political scientists to occasionally mention, and despite decades of being antagonistic to the Democratic Party, in her one moment of power...she endorsed Joe Biden.