Tulsi Gabbard seeks Biden and Sanders' support so she can join debate in Pheonix: 'Stand up for what is right'
Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) has called on her party's top two competitors in the presidential race to support her so she can participate in the upcoming presidential debate in Pheonix.
One of the three female Democratic candidates running for office, Gabbard has called on Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders to pressurize the Democratic National Committee (DNC) so they let her participate after she did not meet any of the new qualifying standards set for the debate.
She tweeted, "@JoeBiden @Bernie Sanders I’m sure you would agree that our Democratic nominee should be a person who will stand up for what is right. So I ask that you have the courage to do that now in the face of the DNC's effort to keep me from participating in the debates."
The Democratic National Committee announced on Friday that only its two top contenders would take the stage. In order to participate in the March 15 debate, she must have must earn at least 20 percent of the pledged delegates allotted up to that point, a requirement she did not meet for the debate to be hosted by CNN and Univision.
She further took a jab at the DNC for changing the requirements so that Mike Bloomberg could come on to the debate stage.
"To keep me off the stage, the DNC again arbitrarily changed the debate qualifications. Previously they changed the qualifications in the OPPOSITE direction so Bloomberg could debate. I ask that you stand w/ me against the DNC's transparent effort to exclude me from the debates," she added.
Both Biden and Sanders have not responded to her very public request. Gabbard has not appeared on at a Democratic debate since November under previous standards from the DNC. #LetTulsiDebate trended on twitter on Friday as social media sided with her request and demanded fairness.