Getty Tulsi Gabbard and Bernie Sanders in 2016.
Tulsi Gabbard is running for President of the United States. She hasn’t formally announced yet, but she’s told CNN that she will do so soon. She’s a favorite among many Bernie Sanders supporters, who are expressing their excitement about her decision. Sanders hasn’t announced yet whether he will be running again for President in 2020, so his supporters haven’t needed to face a situation yet where they’d have to pick between the two. Here’s a look at Gabbard’s history with Sanders and reactions from Sanders’ supporters.
Gabbard told CNN’s Van Jones that she planned to run and would make a formal announcement within the next week. Her interview with Jones will air on CNN on Saturday at 7 p.m. Eastern. But here’s the moment where she made the announcement:
Gabbard said she’s running because she wants to help solve challenges facing the American people, like health care access, climate change, and criminal justice reform.
Many Sanders supporters are already expressing excitement over the news. She was a big supporter of Bernie Sanders during his 2016 run, which gained her a lot of credibility and support among Bernie Sanders voters. Here are some reactions:
The RNC just sent out an attack on Tulsi Gabbard because she “resigned from the DNC to support Bernie Sanders.”
I love this country.
@EmmaVigeland My first choice is Bernie, but I am excited to see progressives like Tulsi run! I would be very happy to vote for her!
Daniel Clark, who was a delegate for Bernie Sanders and ran for Congress in 2018, has been expressing his excitement on Facebook. Here’s one of his posts:
Here’s a video that Gabbard made three years ago about why she was supporting Sanders. If the embedded video doesn’t appear on your browser, you can watch the video on Vimeo here.
Gabbard endorsed Sanders over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary. She was the vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee until she resigned from the position in 2016 after endorsing Sanders.
After she endorsed Sanders, she was often seen campaigning with him at his rallies and opening for him before he spoke.
Many Sanders supporters have said that their dream team would be a Sanders/Gabbard ticket.
@MaxBlumenthal Bernie as pres with her as VP sounds like the best option. He is the most popular politician in the US atm and pitting him vs Tulsi can only be bad for both of them because of the combative nature of the primaries
Of course, not every Bernie Sanders supporter is pro-Tulsi Gabbard. But so far, the reactions on social media about her announcement are largely positive.
It’s not known at this time if Bernie Sanders will also run for President, but his supporters are hosting a big planning event tomorrow so they can be ready in case he does run.