Tulsi Gabbard could be Trump's unusual pick for VP

Former Democratic presidential candidate and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s political journey has taken a sharp turn from once a prominent figure in Hawaii’s Democratic Party to now a fierce defender of Donald Trump’s foreign policies. The changes have not gone unnoticed by MAGA Republicans, the former president and his inner circle.

The former darling of the Democrats is now set to deliver the keynote speech at a Mar-a-Lago fundraising dinner on March 7, with tickets costing from $1250 to $25,000, fueling frenzied speculation about her potential role in a future Trump administration.

The GOP frontrunner confirmed that Gabbard was on the V.P. shortlist during a Fox News town hall in February, along with five others: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Rep. Byron Donald of Florida.

According to Colin Moore, a political science professor at the University of Hawaii, Gabbard is a “singular character in American politics.”

“It’s hard to find anyone who is comparable to Tulsi Gabbard, who has been at various times embraced by evangelical Christians to progressives to now it seems like Donald Trump himself,” Moore said. “I’m not sure anyone can really explain it except for Tulsi Gabbard.”

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The fundraiser also happens to be the same night as President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, which Trump is considering a direct response from his Mar-a-Lago home, according to NBC News.

Gabbard, 42, took the stage at the Conservative People’s Action Conference (CPAC) at the National Harbor in Maryland in February and echoed pro-Trump sentiments while equating the Democratic Party to “evil-doers” and “dictators”.

“Today, we see the Democratic elite leaders say, with great concern in their voice, that if the American people elect Donald Trump again, they warn us, he will destroy democracy,” Gabbard said in her speech. “The perpetrators of this attack are those who, in the name of saving our democracy, are destroying it.”

Such comments would’ve been unthinkable in 2012 when Gabbard was working to establish herself within Democratic circles both in Hawaii and nationally before going on to win the Aloha State’s second congressional seat until December 2021.

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The U.S. Army Reserve officer once served as a vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee from 2013 to 2016, but eventually resigned to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president in 2016. Gabbard ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 only to withdraw her candidacy in March 2020 and throw her support behind Joe Biden.

However, over time, she became an outspoken critic of the Democratic Party, citing reasons such as “growing wokeness, racism, and intolerance.”

Gabbard tweeted a video in 2022 saying she can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party, which is “now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness.”

In the minute-long video, Gabbard said Democrats are divisive by racializing issues and “stoking anti-white racism.” She said she believes the left-leaning party works to “undermine our God-given freedoms” in the Constitution.

She called on “fellow commonsense independent-minded Democrats” to join her in leaving the Democratic Party.

“If you can no longer stomach the direction the so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country, then I invite you to join me,” she said.

This shift opened fresh political opportunities for her to appear frequently on Fox News, even filling in for former host Tucker Carlson. In 2022, she officially left the Democratic Party, marking a significant pivot in her political allegiance.

“I think ... the great question about Tulsi Gabbard is how much of this is an admirable independence and how much of it is opportunism?” Moore said. “But, you know, it’s a political story that people love to cover because it’s so, so unusual.”

The former congresswoman came in third in a straw poll at CPAC in which 9% of attendees voted for her to become Trump’s running mate.

‘I’ve gotten a sense for what motivates him, and it’s got nothing to do with what the Washington establishment is accusing him of,’ Gabbard said. ‘This is a fighter; his strength and resilience can only come from one place: Sincere love of country.’

Gabbard did not respond to USA Today’s request to comment.

Jeremy Yurow is a politics reporting fellow based in Hawaii for the USA TODAY Network. You can reach him at JYurow@gannett.com or on X @JeremyYurow

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Tulsi Gabbard for VP? Keynote speech at Mar-a-Lago raises eyebrows