A new Democratic National Committee ad featuring 10 presidential candidates urging supporters to donate to the DNC’s Unity Fund is raising eyebrows for excluding Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
“With less than a year until November 3, 2020, we must come together now and work towards the common goal of defeating Donald Trump and sending a Democrat to the White House,” the DNC’s tweet sharing the video states.
With less than a year until November 3, 2020, we must come together now and work towards the common goal of defeating Donald Trump and sending a Democrat to the White House.
— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) December 23, 2019
Join us today: https://t.co/BI3HJf0bk2 pic.twitter.com/HxihCR50LF
Viewers will see Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Joe Biden, Sen. Cory Booker, Andrew Yang, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Mike Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Tom Steyer, and Deval Patrick make the case for why it’s so important that Democrats unite around one candidate and support the DNC in its goals to win seats “from the statehouse to the White House.”
“No matter who ends up on that stage as our nominee in the convention, we need the whole Democratic Party to unite if we want to take back the White House and win seats all across the country and deliver a presidency consistent with our Democratic values,” the Democrats take turns stating.
“The DNC is working hard to build a strong and capable Democratic Party, to lift democrats to victory in 2020 from the statehouse to the White House. That work is incredibly important. That’s why I’m proud to support the DNC’s Democratic Unity Fund, and I hope you will support it as well,” they continue.
Gabbard is not the only Democrat running for president that is not included in the video—Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro, Sen. Michael Bennet, author Marianne Williamson and former Rep. John Delaney were not featured either. But the fact that Patrick, who is polling much lower than Gabbard, was featured, makes the Hawaii Democrat’s exclusion especially curious.
In Morning Consult's latest survey, Gabbard received 2 percent support, while Patrick had 0 percent.
So Deval Patrick gets included by @TulsiGabbard does not? https://t.co/1iCAHCFmvf
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) December 23, 2019
DEVAL PATRICK, COME ON
— Fishbones (@Fishbones2017) December 23, 2019
They put Deval Patrick in but not Tulsi Gabbard? Really?
— online nobody (@online_nobody) December 23, 2019
I'm not a Gabbard supporter but she should be in this video. No one knows who Deval Patrick is.
— Yessenia (@Yesseni84478277) December 23, 2019
So you’re excluding Tulsi Gabbard—who’s polling at 5% and has qualified for multiple debates since June—from this ad, but you’re including Deval Patrick, who isn’t even an option on most polls and has qualified for 0 debates? Pathetic. We truly need to abolish our 2-party system.
— boHOE ?? (@BohoIsTerrible2) December 24, 2019
Your deliberate omission of @TulsiGabbard speaks volumes about your promise of equal opportunity for all candidates as stated in Article 1: sec 4 of the DNC charter. And to all the candidates who participated in this obvious attempt to exclude Tulsi should be ashamed.
— james sowles (@eastbosbud) December 23, 2019
Gabbard has been a vocal critic of the DNC this election cycle over its lack of transparency. She's also accused it of 'rigging' the primary in 2016.
“The 2016 Democratic Primary election was rigged by the DNC and their partners in the corporate media against Bernie Sanders,” she said in an October statement when she was debating whether to boycott that month's debate.
“They are attempting to replace the roles of voters in the early states, using polling and other arbitrary methods which are not transparent or democratic, and holding so-called debates which are not debates at all but rather commercialized reality television meant to entertain, not inform or enlighten,” Gabbard added. “In short, the DNC and corporate media are trying to hijack the entire election process.”
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