Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard is in the lower tier of Democratic presidential candidates in terms of net worth, although she has stored away a steady amount of money from real estate investments.
Gabbard, 38, has an estimated $500,000 net worth, primarily from property she purchased and sold near Oklahoma City and later in Washington, D.C., Forbes reported earlier this year. Compared with her Democratic rivals, Gabbard is ahead of only South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Ohio congressman Tim Ryan in terms of assets and net worth.
Gabbard said last week she was not going to participate in Tuesday's Democratic debate but reversed that assertion on Monday.
OpenSecrets.org places Gabbard's estimated net worth at about $556,997 in 2016 and said her real estate deals made up the bulk of that amount. She is ranked as the 418th wealthiest member of the House of Representatives, according to data from 2016.
Forbes estimates Gabbard has about $300,000 in equity in her Washington, D.C., home, which she purchased for $600,000 using a $612,000 Veterans Affairs program loan. Financial disclosures obtained by the magazine revealed that she has been renting the home since 2017 and collects more than $20,000 a year.
Gabbard's investment has paid off, as the value of the Washington residence has increased to $865,000 over the past two years. However, financial disclosures Gabbard filed in order to run for president in 2018 showed that two cryptocurrency investments involving several thousands of dollars in 2017 are now valued at $0.
An August 2018 financial disclosure showed she purchased somewhere between $2,000 and $30,000 in the litecoin and ethereum cryptocurrencies just before a crash in those markets in January 2018, Forbes reported.
As a non-committee chair in Congress, Gabbard makes $174,000 from her government salary. Her federal pension, worth about $200,000, puts her projected net worth at around half a million dollars.
Gabbard was born in the U.S. territory of American Samoa before her parents moved to Hawaii in 1983 when she was 2, according to her father, Mike Gabbard, who is a member of the Hawaiian Senate. She became the youngest woman ever elected to a legislature, where she served from 2002 to 2004. But she decided to serve in a field medical unit with the Hawaii National Guard in Iraq and Kuwait, then returned to Hawaii.
Gabbard was named vice chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2013 to 2016. In a dissent with her bosses, she resigned just before the 2016 presidential election and endorsed Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton.
Forbes notes that it is unclear why Gabbard purchased foreclosed property near Oklahoma City before selling it in 2012.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Benjamin Fearnow is a reporter based out of Newsweek's New York City offices. He was previously at CBS and Mediaite ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
