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Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu lawmaker from Hawaii in the US Congress, is considering to run for American presidency in 2020, according to sources close to her.
On Friday, at a Medtronic conference in Los Angeles an eminent Indian-American Dr Sampat Shivangi introduced Gabbard, 37, and said that she could be the next president of the US in 2020. The brief statement was marked by a standing ovation, in the presence of the four-term Congresswoman from the 50th US State.
A decision on this could be taken before Christmas, which might not necessarily result in a formal announcement as that could be delayed till the next year, people familiar with her thinking process told PTI.
However, it is said that she and her team has quietly been reaching out to prospective donors, including a large number of Indian Americans, and volunteers to build an impressive campaign for her 2020 run.
Given that Gabbard is highly popular among Indian-Americans, a constituency she has nurtured from the very beginning of her political career, it is but natural that her team has quietly started reaching out to this community, which is considered as the richest ethnic group after the Jewish Americans.
Gabbard is not Indian. She was born in American Samoa to a Catholic father (Hawaii State Senator Mike Gabbard) and her mother, Carol Porter Gabbard, is of Caucasian descent who professes Hinduism. Gabbard moved to Hawaii when she was two and embraced Hinduism as a teenager and is well-versed in the scriptures.
A Democrat, Gabbard last week was elected for the fourth term for the US House of Representatives.
Notably, Dr Shivangi is a Republican and has been the party's delegate for the past several presidential conventions. However, he had held fund raisers for Gabbard when she ran for the Congress for the first time in 2012.
A former vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Gabbard currently serves on powerful House Armed Services Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee. She is also the Democratic Co-Chair of the Congressional India Caucus.
The 2020 presidential primary cycle is scheduled to kick off from the Iowa Caucuses on 3 February, 2020, followed by the New Hampshire Primary on 11 February, Nevada caucus of 15 February and South Carolina on 22 February. Team Tulsi has been reaching out to people in these four States.
Among those Democrats speculated to run for the 2020 primaries include former vice president Joe Biden, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Tim Kaine and Indian-origin Senator Kamala Harris.
Amid the clamor of Trump headlines and focus on higher-profile candidates, Gabbard has been quietly making the traditional moves of a presidential candidate. She recently visited Iowa, where locals urged her to run for president, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She keynoted a progressive gathering in New Hampshire in September. And she's writing a book due out this spring titled, "Is Today the Day?: Not Another Political Memoir," Politico reported last month.
(This article has been published in an arrangement with PTI)
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