Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard acknowledged Friday that Hillary Clinton is the presumptive Democratic nominee — but the Bernie Sanders backer isn’t ready to support the former secretary of state.
“I think there’s a Democratic presumptive nominee at this point,” Gabbard told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room” when asked if she was still supporting the Vermont senator. “There are a number of issues that I remain concerned about, and I look forward to discussing with you again in the future.”
Blitzer then asked Gabbard if she was supporting Clinton.
“There are a lot of things that I’m looking at, in particular this issue that she has not moved on at all in this campaign, which is to continue this interventionist regime change policy in Syria that is proving to be so disastrous,” said Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran.
When Blitzer pressed Gabbard over whether she thought Sanders should drop out of the race, Gabbard said she was “not going to go there.”
“I respect Bernie Sanders and whatever decisions he makes,” she said.
Democrats have been uniting around Clinton since she emerged as the presumptive Democratic nominee earlier this month. Last week, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren threw their support behind Clinton. On Thursday, Arizona Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva, the first member of Congress to endorse Sanders, announced his support for Clinton.
Sanders has publicly vowed to continue his primary challenge through the Democratic convention next month, though on Thursday, he pledged to work with Clinton to defeat presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.