US Presidential elections are just a year away. In an anti-incumbency wave in 2016, Republicans took charge of the White House and Donald Trump was elected as the US President. His rival Hillary Clinton suffered an abysmal defeat which raised concerns if she will run again in 2020.
In a first, a Hindu-American, Tulsi Gabbard who also happens to be the first Hindu to be ever elected to the U.S Congress will run for the 2020 presidential elections, international media reported.
In an interview due to air on CNN on Saturday evening, she says: "There are a lot of challenges that are facing the American people that I'm concerned about and that I want to help solve." BBC reported.
Photo: AP/Tulsi Gabbard
She informed that a formal announcement will be made this week. The 37-year-old is a US army veteran and a native of American Samoa. She is a U.S Democrat Representative from Hawaii where former President Barack Obama was born and raised.
Indian-Americans in the U.S form the country¡¯s richest ethnic community and they are closely following both Ms Gabbard and Kamala Harris. While Harris is Indian American from her mother¡¯s side and African American from her father¡¯s, she chose to project her African American side which hasn¡¯t pleased the Hindu community there.
Reportedly, with Gabbard the issue is that though she is a white American, she is a practicing Hindu and is therefore, an icon among Hindu Americans. She was elected to the U.S Congress in 2012 and once she makes a formal announcement she will become the first Hindu ever to run for the Presidential elections.
Photo: AFP
¡°I look forward to being able to get into this and to talk about it in depth when we make our announcement.¡± she had further said to the CNN anchor.
In 2017 January, she sparked a controversy when she spoke with the Syrian President Bashar Al Assad to end the conflict there. However, her visit had left experts wondering if she had violated legislation prohibiting unauthorized?individuals from speaking to governments in dispute with the US.
She has been criticized for her take on foreign policy matters as she remains opposed to foreign military intervention. As soon as the news about her bid for elections started making a buzz, people started sharing her quotes from early 2000s when she called LGBTQ activists pushing for gay marriage ¡°homosexual extremists.¡±
Meanwhile, 44-year-old Julian Castro made a formal announcement on Saturday in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas, where he was mayor from 2009 to 2014.BBC reported that he served as housing secretary under President Barack Obama and was on the list of Hillary Clinton's potential running mates for the 2016 election.