Tulsi Gabbard is still running for president and appears to be having fun while doing it, much to the disdain of Democrats hoping to replace her in Washington.
The Hawaii representative, who won’t seek reelection to her congressional seat in 2020 after first winning office in 2012, has so far earned no delegates during the Democratic primary but that hasn’t stopped her campaigning in South Carolina and Super Tuesday states ahead of the coming contests, sneaking in some outdoor activities along the way.
Last weekend, Gabbard, 38, visited Utah, one of 14 states where Democrats will weigh in on who they want to become their party’s nominee on March 3. During the trip, she dropped in on Snowbird ski resort to snowboard down one of the mountains in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
The Hawaii Army National Guard major took a similar detour in New Hampshire before the Feb. 11 primary, hitting the slopes at Cranmore Mountain in North Conway.
2020 Watch-Now: @foxnewspolitics covers @TulsiGabbard as the Democratic presidential candidate takes to the slopes at Cranmore Mountain in North Conway New Hampshire #nhpolitics #FITN #TulsiGabbard #2020Election pic.twitter.com/qgKCQvctMD
— Paul Steinhauser (@steinhauserNH1) January 28, 2020
On the first day of 2020, the Middle East combat veteran also braved sub-40 degree Fahrenheit waters in New Hampshire, taking her first surf in the Atlantic Ocean during January off of Hampton after focusing her resources in the state as opposed to Iowa.
SURF’S UP: Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard catches a wave, kicking off the new decade by surfing in early primary state New Hampshire.
Gabbard surfed nearly every day growing up in Hawaii, but this is her first January surf in the Atlantic, complete with a “winter wetsuit.” pic.twitter.com/0Yr3rv3zYj
— Nicole Sganga (@NicoleSganga) January 1, 2020
The events have become a hallmark feature of Gabbard’s nontraditional White House bid, even before Congress’s first Hindu and Samoan American member started failing to qualify for the debates and missing out the national media attention they generated for polling and fundraising boosts. For example, she caught waves with Warrior Surf in Charleston, South Carolina, last October. The former Democratic National Committee vice chairwoman, a post she quit to endorse Bernie Sanders in 2016, also shared a video of her workout routine on social media last September and challenged a man to a push-up contest in Manchester, New Hampshire, last month.
HIIT workout. 25 exercises using the bench. No excuses. Start your week right! #MondayMotivation pic.twitter.com/4JXkZ2Q9IE
— Tulsi Gabbard ? (@TulsiGabbard) September 16, 2019
But, unsurprisingly, Gabbard’s active approach to her campaign hasn’t earned universal approval. Democratic Hawaiian state Sen. Kai Kahele, 45, the front-runner to represent Gabbard’s district on Capitol Hill from next year, criticized her for shirking her constituent duties.
“Snowboarding? Seriously..we got MAJOR problems here in Hawaiʻi..homeless epidemic, rural healthcare crisis, veteran suicides, FAA helicopter investigations, coronavirus. This is NO time for snowboarding,” Kahele tweeted after her New Hampshire outing with the hashtag, “#doyourjob.”
Snowboarding? Seriously..we got MAJOR problems here in Hawaiʻi..homeless epidemic, rural healthcare crisis, veteran suicides, FAA helicopter investigations, coronavirus. This is NO time for snowboarding. #doyourjob
— Kai Kahele (@kaikahele) February 6, 2020
Gabbard, who’s suing Hillary Clinton after Sanders’s 2016 nemesis insinuated she was a Russian asset, will next appear in Virginia on Thursday before returning to South Carolina on Friday.
