Gabbard had won just two delegates in the primaries so far

Gabbard had won just two delegates in the primaries so far

Gabbard had won just two delegates in the primaries so far

The Representative for Hawaii and the first Hindu-elect to the US Congress Tulsi Gabbard announced on Thursday that she was ending her presidential campaign and would support democratic frontrunner Joe Biden.

In a video statement, Gabbard said, “Today, I'm suspending my presidential campaign and offering my full support to Vice President Joe Biden in his quest to bring our country together.”

"I know Vice President Biden and his wife and am grateful to have called his son Beau, who also served in the National Guard, a friend," she said."Although I may not agree with the Vice President on every issue, I know that he has a good heart and is motivated by his love for our country and the American people."

“"I'm confident that he will lead our country guided by the spirit of aloha, respect and compassion, and thus help heal the divisiveness that has been tearing our country apart," she said.

In 2016, Gabbard had supported Sanders.

Gabbard had been trailing an insurmountable distance behind Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former vice president Biden. Her campaign picked up its first delegates only by March 3—when Biden and Sanders had hundreds of delegates each. At the time of withdrawing her campaign, she had just two pledged delegates.

A war veteran who served with the Hawaii Army National Guard in Iraq (2004-05) and Kuwait (2008-09), Gabbard had campaigned on ending the US’s long and bloody history of interventionism, criticising US efforts at regime change in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. Her post on ‘Hinduphobia’ went viral earlier; Gabbard had earlier raised more money from Indian-Americans than other candidates with Indian heritage like Kamala Harris.

The democratic presidential nomination is now a two-way race between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. However, after the latest primaries, Biden has 1191 delegates to Sander’s 885. The successful candidate needs 1,991 delegates to win the nomination. While Sanders is not mathematically out of the race yet, with several delegates to be declared in the coming months as the coronavirus outbreak postpones primaries, the percentage of support that Biden has enjoyed over Sanders puts the latter’s chances at a low likelihood.

TAGS