TULSA, Okla. — Two years ago, she was making the case to be the standard-bearer of the Democratic Party, and now Former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is crisscrossing the country to campaign for Republicans, including Oklahoma Congressman Markwayne Mullin (R) running for the U.S. Senate.
Gabbard praised and endorsed Mullin before a group of supporters in Tulsa last week before giving an exclusive interview with FOX23 about why she says she had to leave the Democratic Party.
“When I joined the Democrat Party back in 2002, I wanted to be a part of the party of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., that’s not what today’s Democrat Party is,” Gabbard said to FOX23 News. “They are now a party that hates freedom, is run by the ‘woke’, and has forgotten about working families and the struggles of the average American.”
FOX23 asked Gabbard if her departure from the Democratic Party was due to a failed 2020 Presidential run, and she said she was proud of her attempts to become the Democratic Presidential nominee.
“I wanted to get the party back to what it used to be,” Gabbard said. “If I was President now, it would be a night and day difference from what we have now under this administration. We are literally seeing a change in the fabric of America on many levels.”
FOX23′s Rick Maranon asked Gabbard if she had felt partially responsible for helping the Democrats rise to power, and if her touring the country to campaign for some Republicans could be seen as a kind of atonement for political sins in the eyes of some like voting for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to be speaker of the house.
“A lot of things have happened over the years since that vote,” Gabbard said. “Nancy Pelosi and I agree on some things, and we differ on others. I’ve always been an independent-minded Democrat. I’ve had friends and colleagues I’ve work with on the Democrat-side and the Republican-side. The Democrat Party today is not the party I joined.”
Gabbard and Mullin became friends in Congress and the two referred to their relationship as political brother and sister. Since she interviewed with FOX23 after a campaign speech with Mullin, FOX23 asked Gabbard if there were any awkward feelings being in a room full of GOP supporters, many of whom voted for Former President Donald Trump (R) in 2020.
“It feels like home,” she said about taking the stage before a Republican crowd. “I am surrounded by people who are celebrating freedom and understand the serious stakes of this election and the need for every one of us regardless of democrat or republican or an independent recognizing that our fundamental freedoms are under attack.”
Gabbard said she had not changed her registration to Republican, and some news outlets in Hawaii have reported she has not changed her registration yet to reflect her departure from the Democratic Party. FOX23 asked her if she at least now considered herself to be a conservative. She said she didn’t want to be labeled or put in any of the traditional political corners anymore, instead, she was concerned about America’s future no matter where that placed her.
“I’m really focused on seeing how we can change course in this country because if we don’t, I’m concerned that we’ll get to the point where we cross the line and can’t come back,” she said.
Gabbard said she was going to continue to live in Hawaii, a solidly blue state, and she had no plans at the moment to transplant herself into a different state that would be more aligned with her values and beliefs so she could try to run for office again in the future.
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