The Democratic National Committee has taken the highly unusual step of disinviting one of its own leaders from Tuesday’s presidential debate: U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who serves as one of five vice chairs of the organization. The reason for the very public slap at the second-term Hawaii congresswoman? Apparently, it stems from her call earlier this fall for more debates.
For its part, the DNC says it simply doesn’t want any “distractions” from the candidates, who include Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. But Gabbard is not happy about the snub.
“When I first came to Washington, one of the things that I was disappointed about was there’s a lot of immaturity and petty gamesmanship that goes on, and it kind of reminds me of how high school teenagers act,” the New York Times reports.

Last month, Gabbard and another vice chair of the DNC said that limiting the Democrats’ debates to just six “limits the ability of the American people to benefit from a strong, transparent, vigorous debate between our Presidential candidates.”
DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a U.S. representative from Florida, thinks that six debates is just fine, although that is far fewer than the Republican presidential candidates are having — and they have a lot more people running, too.
Gabbard told the Times on Sunday that she would watch Tuesday’s debate, which is in Nevada, back home in Hawaii.
On Monday, CNN reported that Sanders, the independent from Vermont who also wants more debates, is offering Gabbard a ticket, should she still want to attend the debate in person.
GET IN-DEPTH
REPORTING ON HAWAII’S BIGGEST ISSUES
What it means to support Civil Beat.
Supporting Civil Beat means you’re investing in a newsroom that can devote months to investigate corruption. It means we can cover vulnerable, overlooked communities because those stories matter. And, it means we serve you. And only you.
Donate today and help sustain the kind of journalism Hawaiʻi cannot afford to lose.
About the Author
-
Chad Blair is the politics editor for Civil Beat. You can reach him by email at cblair@civilbeat.org or follow him on X at @chadblairCB.