Hawaii Congressional Candidate, Tulsi Gabbard, Secures WUFPAC Endorsement
Women Under Forty PAC announces its endorsement of Tulsi Gabbard, candidate for Congress in Hawaii’s 2nd district.
Tulsi Gabbard, 30, was elected at the age of 21 to serve in the Hawaii State Legislature. At the age of 29, she was elected to the Honolulu City Council. A native of Oahu, she is running for Hawaii’s 2nd district seat to replace Rep. Mazie Horono, who is running for Senate.
“WUFPAC is proud to support Tulsi Gabbard. By the age of 30, she has already been elected twice, and served in active duty in Iraq. She has spent her life working to help strengthen her community and the world. I can’t think of a better role model for young women thinking about running for office!” said Katie Vlietstra, WUFPAC’s President. “We are excited to support her candidacy for Congress.”
Gabbard has a long record of public service. At the age of 19, she cofounded the nonprofit Healthy Hawaii Coalition, whose mission is to educate children about protecting Hawaii’s water resources. She went on to run for State Representative in 2002 at the age of 21, where she became the youngest women in the United States ever elected to a state office, as well as the youngest legislator in Hawaii history.
Although facing an easy reelection fight, Gabbard decided to serve her country in a different way by enlisting in the Hawaii National Guard, and deploying to Iraq. She served for two tours of duty, including spending 18 months near Baghdad as the 29th Brigade’s Medical Operations Specialist. She was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for her performance in Iraq at the end of her tour of duty. Gabbard serves now as a Captain in the Hawaii National Guard, and she is a Company Commander with 75 soldiers reporting to her.
Elected in 2010 to the Honolulu City Council, she concentrates on health and safety issues facing her constituents, including protecting local beaches from medical waste, and stemming the spread of Dengue Fever. She also works to make Honolulu a more business friendly environment, including organizing Hawaii’s first International Sister-City Summit, to improve trade opportunities for local businesses. Tulsi currently serves as Chair of the Safety, Economic Development, and Government Affairs committee, as Vice Chair of the Budget committee and is a member of the Zoning and Public Works committee.
WUFPAC is dedicated to electing more young women to public office so that young women have an equal voice in shaping public policy, and building the seniority of women in Congress by electing women at a young age. WUFPAC supports candidates who are committed to empowering young women to succeed.
For more information about Tulsi Gabbard and to donate directly to her campaign, please visit www.votetulsi.com.
Posted: October 25th, 2011
It is going to be very interesting to learn Ms. Gabbard’s position on equal rights for LGBT people and the issue of choice and the right to choose a safe, legal abortion.
Posted: October 26th, 2011
Tulsi is completely underqualified for Congress. She would be replacing is Mazie Hirono. Mazie earned her law degree from Georgetown University, served as a Deputy Attorney General before entering private practice, served for years in the State House of Representatives and was elected and served two four-year terms as Hawaii’s Lieutenant Governor. Colleen Hanabusa, our other Congresswoman, earned her law degree at Richardson School of Law, was in private practice as an employment attorney, served 10 years in the Senate and was the first Asian American to served as Senate President.
Tulsi was elected to the State House in 2002; did not finish her two-year term before she joined the National Guard and was deployed to the Middle East. She was just elected to City Council in 2010, and has not finished one year before running for Congress. Tulsi is like Sarah Palin – beautiful, charismatic, ambitious, and has no qualms about failing to finish her term in office.