Representative Tulsi Gabbard, the anti-war Democratic candidate, told voters that her run for President was “far from over,” no matter what the pundits said.
Speaking at a town hall event in Atlanta, Gabbard responded to concerns that she was dropping out after failing to make the next Democratic debate with a succint “Hell no!”:
I started hearing from a lot of people in the media when they said, ‘OK, you didn’t make the third debate. Are you quitting?… If any of them had been listening to what I’ve been saying about what this movement is about, about why I’m running for president, and what is at stake, they would understand why we are here and why we will never quit.
Tulsi Gabbard LIVE on the road – Atlanta TULSI Town Hall – Atlanta, GA [RE-STREAM] #TulsiGabbard #Tulsi2020 #Tulsi https://t.co/ewoNex2mVn
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) August 31, 2019
She clarified her comments in a live-stream on Twitter later that day:
While some of the political pundits are trying to say our campaign is over, it is far from over… People are coming together because they’re inspired and they’re hopeful. They’re joining our people-powered movement because they understand what’s at stake.
With less than 24 hours notice, over 300 people came out to our first ever Atlanta town hall last night! #TULSI2020 pic.twitter.com/oT3g4935S5
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) August 31, 2019
Gabbard missed out on qualifying for the ABC and Univision debate, which will be held in Houston on September 12th, after not polling above the threshold in a number of polls. However, she had also polled well in a number of other polls, that for some reason, the DNC did not wish to count. She spoke to Tucker Carlson on his show about it, arguing that the situation is “confusing”, and that people were therefore losing trust in the process:
There’s a whole bunch of different polls that have come out. The DNC has only recognized some of them as being qualifying polls for the debate. The whole thing gets a little bit confusing and you’ve got to jump down way into the weeds of the numbers and the statistics but I think the bigger problem is, is that the whole process lacks transparency. People deserve having that transparency because ultimately it is the people who will decide who the Democratic nominee will be and who our next President and CiC will be. When you see that lack of transparency, it creates a lack of faith and trust in the process.
No transparency = no trust. #TULSI2020 pic.twitter.com/p90yaYzQDt
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) August 31, 2019
The full list of candidates that qualified for the debate are as follows:
- Former VP Joe Biden
- Sen. Cory Booker
- Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend, Indiana
- Julián Castro
- Sen. Kamala Harris
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar
- Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke
- Sen. Bernie Sanders
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren
- Andrew Yang
