AFP, Washington :
Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, an Iraq war veteran who met dictator Bashar al-Assad in Syria during that country’s devastating civil war, said Friday that she is launching a US presidential bid.
“I have decided to run and will be making a formal announcement within the next week,” Gabbard told CNN.
If elected, the 37-year-old lawmaker, who is known to surf the waters of her native Hawaii, would be the youngest president in US history.
She is the first Hindu member of Congress and its first Samoan American member, and she sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“There are a lot of reasons for me to make this decision. There are a lot of challenges that are facing the American people that I’m concerned about and that I want to help solve,” she said.
Gabbard’s announcement comes ahead of what is expected to be a wave of high-profile candidates throwing their hats in the ring.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has formed an exploratory committee for a presidential bid, and last week took a high-profile trip to the early voting state of Iowa.
