SALT LAKE CITY — Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard spoke to more than 100 people during a town hall event in downtown Salt Lake City Friday.
“I respect and appreciate how Utah voters are independent minded people and are really interested in thinking about what we can do as a country together to move forward,” she said.
Gabbard will be spending the weekend campaigning in Utah, sharing her message.
“So my commitment in running for president, to serve as commander in chief, bringing that experience as a soldier and seven years in congress, focus on national security and foreign policy that’s best prepared me on day one to fulfill that responsibility as commander in chief,” she said.
People from throughout the state, as well as visitors, came to learn more.
“I am here to kind of see what I agree with and what I don’t,” town hall attendee Susan Laurnen said.
While some came to learn more, others like William Radtke, have already decided who they want to vote for: Gabbard.
“I’ve never been into politics, I have never voted, so this is the first time I’ve ever done anything like this,” he said.
Gabbard focused on her desire to cross party lines, and her feelings on war Friday.
“I am a soldier, I have served now in the Army National Guard for almost 17 years, and deployed twice to the Middle East where every day we were confronted with the reality that death could come at any moment and the loss of our brothers and sisters in uniform. The real cost of war,” she said. “The cost of war and the toll it takes on our service men and women and the cost that is paid for by every single American, who are paying trillions of tax payer dollars and to go towards wars — regime change wars that do not make us any safer.”
When an audience member asked how she Gabbard planned to unite people across party lines, she said she takes small steps and works to break things down when discussing issues, to just what is most real.
“What we are seeing here is people are coming across party lines, standing together and saying 'Let’s work side by side as Americans to do what’s best for our country.' That’s the spirit of leadership that I want to bring to the White House,” she said.
