Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Says She’s Leaving ‘Elitist’ Democratic Party

Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is leaving the Democratic party, she announced on Tuesday, arguing it is now under the control of an “elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness.”

Gabbard urged fellow Democrats to do the same.

“I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness,” she wrote on social media, sharing a clip from a podcast she’s launching, The Tulsi Gabbard Show.

“I believe in a government that is of, by, and for the people,” she added. “Unfortunately, today’s Democratic Party does not. Instead, it stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite. I’m calling on my fellow common sense independent-minded Democrats to join me in leaving the Democratic Party.”

Gabbard represented Hawaii from 2013 to 2021, when she retired from Congress.

In 2020, she unsuccessfully ran for the party’s presidential nomination.

In her announcement, she claimed the Democratic party is against the rule of law and criticized causes advocated by progressive activists to defund the police and redirect the money to address social issues, such as mental health and housing.

Even when she was still a Democrat, Gabbard was close to conservative groups.

In February, she spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), when she said she was “right at home.”

She has been a long-time Fox News contributor. When the FBI conducted a search of former President Donald Trump‘s house to seize documents he allegedly took from the White House after the end of his administration, Gabbard commented on Tucker Carlson Tonight the operation was a weaponization of the Department of Justice.

The former Congresswoman didn’t make clear in her announcement what are her plans and whether she intends to join the Republican party.