Tulsi Gabbard scores a single delegate, continues presidential campaign

Tulsi Gabbard, who scored a single delegate from her place of birth, American Samoa, on Super Tuesday, plans to forge ahead with her campaign despite falling far behind the leaders in the race for the Democratic nomination for president.

“She’s going to take it to the convention,” said Cullen Tiernan, Gabbard’s press assistant.

Tiernan, speaking by phone from Virginia, said the campaign is hoping Gabbard will get a boost by joining the Democratic presidential debate stage later this month after winning a delegate in the American Samoa caucuses. Debate rules up to now give any candidate with a delegate the opportunity to join the leaders on the stage.

But Xochitl Hinojosa, communications director of the Democratic National Committee, indicated on social media Tuesday that the qualification threshold is unlikely to stay the same.

“We have two more debates — of course the threshold will go up. By the time we have the March debate, almost 2,000 delegates will be allocated. The threshold will reflect where we are in the race, as it always has,” she said in a tweet.

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg won 49.9% of the American Samoa vote, or 175 votes, while Gabbard received 29.3%, or 103 votes, with 99% counted.

Bloomberg picked up at least four delegates, while Gabbard collected one. One of American Samoa’s six delegates had yet to be awarded.

Gabbard campaigned in Texas on Monday before appearing at a town hall in Detroit on Tuesday.

During her speech Tuesday, Gabbard said she has deep roots in Michigan and then introduced her mother, Carol Gabbard, who grew up in Grand Rapids and attended the University of Michigan. She said her American Samoan father, Mike Gabbard, “swept her (mom) off her feet” and took her across the Pacific to American Samoa.

Her father, now a Hawaii state senator representing Kapolei and Makakilo, was a teacher at American Samoa Community College, while her mother was a speech therapist at the Department of Education. The family moved to Hawaii when Tulsi Gabbard was 2.

On Friday Gabbard appealed to American Samoa Democrats for their support in a video posted on social media.

In the video she spoke a few words of Samoan, recounting her history in American Samoa and describing her family, including her grandmother Pako Gabbard, who sold pies at her seaside store at Leloaloa.

“As a native of American Samoa, I’m asking for your support and vote,” she said.