Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) revealed on Monday that she will not be dying a strand of her hair that has turned gray because it has sentimental value from when she was previously deployed overseas with the Hawaiian Army National Guard.
“No, I’m not going to fix that gray strand,” Gabbard replied to a commenter while answering questions on an Instagram livestream. “I don’t know what you mean by fix — if you mean dye, no, I’m not going to dye it.”
“I actually started going gray in that one spot during and after my first deployment to Iraq,” she continued. “And so I keep it as just a remembrance of those who we lost there and the cost of war and why we fight so hard for peace.”
Gabbard, who is the first female combat veteran in America to launch a bid for the presidency, has been outspoken about the importance of the time that she has spent serving the United States as both a soldier and as a public servant.
In August, the Hawaii congresswoman took a two-week leave of absence from her presidential campaign in order to report for active duty and participate in a joint training exercise mission in Indonesia. While she had previously taken a two-week leave of absence from her congressional duties when she reported for active duty in 2017, this was her first time doing so as a presidential contender
“I love our country, I love being able to serve our country in so many ways including as a soldier,” Gabbard told CBSN’s Caitlin Huey Burns while announcing her campaign hiatus. “So, while some people are telling me like, ‘Gosh, this is a terrible time to leave the campaign, can’t you find a way out of it,’ you know, that’s not what this is about.”
“I’m not really thinking about how this will impact my campaign,” she continued. “I’m looking forward to being able to fulfill my service and my responsibility.”
Gabbard’s obligation to her military duties may have severely hampered her chances of winning the Democratic nomination to the presidency. Her leave of absence occurred during the final stretch of campaigning prior to the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) deadline to qualify for the upcoming third round of debates.
While Gabbard was able to quickly meet the fundraising threshold and raise donations from at least 130,000 unique donors, she was ultimately two DNC-approved polls short of receiving an invitation to the debate stage and consequently failed to qualify.
This is not the first time that the Democratic presidential candidate was asked about her hair while on the campaign trail.
Gabbard’s sister, Vrindavan, took to Twitter in March when asked if the Hawaii congresswoman’s hair is natural or dyed.
“Natural,” she replied from Gabbard’s personal Twitter account. “It happened after her deployment to Iraq. She keeps it as a daily reminder of her experience and her purpose.”
