Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has received the official endorsement of Tulsi Gabbard, a former congresswoman who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 before leaving the party.
On Monday, Trump welcomed Ms Gabbard, 43, to a stage in Detroit, in the crucial swing state of Michigan.
Ms Gabbard left the Democratic Party in 2022, complaining about the party’s “wokeness” and has since become a frequent and outspoken guest on Fox News.
She appeared with Trump to commemorate US service members killed in an attack in Afghanistan three years ago, using it as an opportunity to criticize the Biden administration.
Thirteen US service members and more than 100 Afghans were killed in a suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
The incident occurred as US troops withdrew from the country in chaos and the Taliban returned to power.
Trump called it a “disgrace” that “caused a collapse in America’s credibility and respect around the world.”
Earlier in the day, Gabbard, a veteran, visited Virginia’s Arlington Cemetery to pay tribute to fallen American soldiers.
Ms. Gabbard was a frequent critic of US military interventionism throughout her career in Congress from 2013 to 2021.
Appearing at Monday’s event in Michigan, Ms Gabbard said she was urging Democrats, Republicans and independents to choose Trump at the ballot box in November – saying it was a matter of “saving the country and serving the people”.
Her formal endorsement of Trump marks the culmination of a remarkable political journey over the past decade that began on the progressive left wing of the Democratic Party.
She was the first Hindu member of the United States Congress, and later served as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee — before stepping down to support Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.
Gabbard ran for president in 2020, supporting liberal issues like government-run health care, free college tuition and gun control.
But Joe Biden became the Democratic nominee that year and went on to win the presidential election. Two years later, Ms Gabbard resigned from the Democratic Party, saying the party had succumbed to “woke cowardice”.
By early 2024, she was praising Biden’s opponent Trump, who will this time compete for the White House with Kamala Harris.
She warned of a growing threat to US democracy – saying the danger comes from the US left’s prosecution of Trump.
In the following months, there was even speculation that Ms Gabbard might be nominated as Trump’s potential vice presidential candidate in November — a role that ultimately went to JD Vance.
Since leaving the Democratic Party, she has become a regular contributor to Fox News and has been accused by officials in Ukraine of spreading “Russian propaganda.”
Ms Gabbard’s comments came days after Mr Trump received the endorsement of another defecting Democratic candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his independent White House campaign last week.
Leading Democrats quickly rejected Ms Gabbard’s endorsement.
“Instead of focusing on winning the support of hardworking Americans, Trump is more focused on winning the support of extremists like Gabbard and RFK Jr — and they will do nothing but sink his sinking campaign ship,” the party’s rapid response director Alex Floyd said in a statement.
