On Tuesday night, while campaigning for former and potentially future President Donald Trump in North Carolina, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard announced that she was joining the Republican Party. She had served as a Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District from 2013-2021 and even ran for president in 2020. She left the Democratic Party to become an Independent in October 2022, however, and has now since become a Republican.
While such an announcement came on Tuesday, as Gabbard joined Trump at the podium in Greensboro, she had endorsed him in August. This is also around the time when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped his presidential bid and endorsed Trump. Decked out in red, Gabbard shared that “it is because of my love for our country–and specifically, because of the leadership that President Trump has brought to transform the Republican Party and bring it back to the party of the people and the party of peace–that I’m proud to stand here with you today, President Trump, and announce that I’m joining the Republican Party,” to applause from the audience.
“I’m joining the party of the people, the party of equality, the party that was founded to fight against and end slavery in this country. It is the party of common sense and the party that is led by a president who has the courage and strength to fight for peace,” she continued.
Gabbard has come a long way in just a few short years as a Democrat to an Independent, to now a Republican. She and both RFK are also on the Trump transition team. Gabbard herself ran in the Democratic primary in 2020 to run against Trump for that cycle.
Although she lost the nomination, President Joe Biden, Gabbard at least remained in the race longer than Vice President Kamala Harris did for her presidential run in 2020, as Harris dropped out in December 2019, before any primary votes were cast. What debates Gabbard and Harris both participated in were notable for Gabbard going after Harris for her lack of progressive policies as a prosecutor on criminal justice reform. More recently, Gabbard also took to X in July to savage Harris for going after Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and questioning his loyalty. Both Gabbard and Vance have served.
Harris, meanwhile, has been campaigning with former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who, as Trump reminded on Tuesday night and has repeatedly reminded, has views at odds with the Muslim community that Harris has been desperately trying to court. Cheney’s views stand in particularly stark contrast to Gabbard on foreign policy.
“Her father,” Trump said, speaking about former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has also endorsed Harris, “brought years of war and death to the Middle East. He killed many Arabs, many many Arabs, Muslims, and now Lyin’ Kamala has embraced Liz Cheney. She embraced her. And why would, why would a Muslim or an Arab want to vote for somebody who has Liz Cheney as her hero?”
Trump, after emphasizing what a “failed politician” Liz Cheney is, brought it back to Harris once more, as he offered that her closeness with Cheney “is a great insult to Muslims all over the world, and I think she’s going to do very badly in Michigan.”
