Statement by Tulsi Gabbard on the Iowa Caucuses

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard (U.S. Rep, Hawaii) released the following statement concerning last night's Caucuses in Iowa:

"Thousands of people turned out to cast the first votes of this presidential primary in the Iowa Caucuses last night. Unfortunately, the voices of the people of Iowa have yet to be heard as the vote count continues, leaving voters frustrated and without the transparency and integrity in this process that they expect and deserve.

Now our attention turns to New Hampshire. As I've travelled across the state, preparing for the first-in-the-nation primary next week, I am heartened by how Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and Libertarians are coming together at our town halls every day, working side by side to ensure our government is of the people, by the people, and for the people -- not the powerful elite.

In the roughly two hours that Iowans spent last night at their caucuses, our government spent $11 million of taxpayers' dollars in Afghanistan alone -- propping up corrupt warlords, while so many people I meet throughout New Hampshire and the country go without the basics: clean water, infrastructure, health care, education.

Two days ago, I visited HOPE for New Hampshire, a center in Manchester serving people still struggling with a deadly opioid crisis that has fallen out of the headlines. Many shared they cannot get the care they need for lack of funding. We're lucky to live in the most prosperous country on earth, but life expectancy in New Hampshire is in decline.

As president, I will not allow this to stand.

I will redirect the dollars we are wasting on wasteful regime change wars, the New Cold War, and nuclear arms race and instead invest in the needs of the American people — like healthcare, education, protecting our environment, rebuilding our infrastructure, and so much more.

The voters of New Hampshire understand that our counter-productive foreign policy takes dollars directly out of their pockets and their communities. And the hyper-partisan political atmosphere that dominates Washington does not represent them.

It's clear that the corporate media, the military-industrial complex, and the party establishment are threatened by this message, because it challenges their grip on power. They will do everything to silence us, while also rigging the primary process for billionaire candidates who think they can bypass the kind of grassroots campaigning that is the fuel of our movement.

So just as we have done for the past year, we will spend this final week taking our message directly to the people of New Hampshire, who refuse to be told by the pundits or the pollsters how to vote. They will be the ones to put us on a new course as a country."

Tulsi has spent over 100 days campaigning in New Hampshire since kicking off her campaign in January of 2019 and conducted town halls across the Granite State.