Former Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D) has endorsed Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
“As a former Cleveland mayor and eight-term U.S. congressman, I remain concerned that our country is spending too much time looking for dragons to slay in other countries instead of taking care of things here at home,” Kucinich, who ran for the White House in 2004 and 2008, said in a video shared on Twitter on Monday by an ABC News campaign reporter.
“That’s why I’m supporting Tulsi Gabbard for the Democratic nomination for president. She has the courage and the intelligence to get our country back on track,” Kucinich added.
Gabbard campaign spokesman Cullen Tiernan confirmed Kucinich’s endorsement.
Kucinich, who was no longer a congressman at the time, accompanied Gabbard during a 2017 trip to Syria where they met with Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Gabbard has been criticized, notably by former Democratic primary candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.), for being an “apologist” for Assad.
At a CNN town hall in March, Gabbard said, “the evidence need to be gathered” regarding Assad’s actions.
“If there is evidence that he has committed war crimes, he should be prosecuted as such,” she said.