Tulsi Gabbard to run for US presidency?

Washington: Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu lawmaker from Hawaii in the US Congress, is considering to run for American presidency in 2020, according to sources close to her.

On Friday, at a Medtronic conference in Los Angeles, an eminent Indian-American, Dr Sampat Shivangi, introduced Gabbard, 37, and said that she could be the next President of the US in 2020. The brief statement was marked by a standing ovation in the presence of the four-term Congresswoman from the 50th US state.

Ms Gabbard, a Democrat, who addressed the gathering, neither confirmed nor denied that she is running for President in 2020.

A decision on this could be taken before Christmas, which might not necessarily result in a formal announcement as that could be delayed till the next year.

However, it is said that she and her team have quietly been reaching out to prospective donors, including a large number of Indian Americans and volunteers to build an impressive campaign for her 2020 run.

Ms Gabbard is highly popular among Indian-Americans, a constituency she has nurtured from the very beginning of her political career.

Indian-Americans are considered the richest ethnic group after the Jewish Americans and in many critical states they can play an important role in her electoral chances.

Ms Gabbard is not Indian. She was born in American Samoa to a Catholic father (Hawaii State Senator Mike Gabbard) and her mother, Carol Porter Gabbard, is of Caucasian descent who professes Hinduism. Ms Gabbard moved to Hawaii when she was two and embraced Hinduism as a teenager and is well-versed in the scriptures.

If Ms Gabbard declares her presidential bid she would be the first Hindu candidate ever from a major political party to announce to enter the race for White House. And if elected in 2020, she could be the youngest ever and first woman to be elected as the US President.

A Democrat, Ms Gabbard last week was elected for the fourth term for the US House of Representatives.

Notably, Dr Shivangi is a Republican and has been the party’s delegate for the past several presidential conventions. However, he had held fund raisers for Ms Gabbard when she ran for the Congress for the first time in 2012. She was the first US lawmaker to take her oath on Bhagwat Gita.

A former vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Ms Gabbard currently serves on powerful House Armed Services Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee. She is also the Democratic Co-Chair of the Congressional India Caucus.

“She has been a fresh voice in the Democratic Party, with her support for US-India relations, her opposition to the war in Iraq, and her opposition to arms sales to Saudi Arabia,” Dr Shivangi said. The 2020 presidential primary cycle is scheduled to kick off from the Iowa Caucuses on February 3, 2020.