Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii Democrat, formally kicks off campaign for president

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Tulsi Gabbard under fire for past anti-gay remarks amid 2020 bid, says she has since 'evolved'

Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard released a video Thursday formally kicking off her 2020 run for the White House.

Gabbard, a combat veteran with the Hawaii National Guard who was elected to her position in 2012, shared the clip on Twitter, alongside a link to her “Tulsi 2020” campaign website.

“We have people in positions of power who are not thinking about the well-being of the people and our planet,” she said in the video. “Where is that conversation about the needs of our people? Where is the conversation about peace?”

Gabbard, 37, also seemingly touched on the ongoing political conflict in Venezuela in her message.

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On Wednesday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he was cutting off relations with the U.S. and giving American diplomats 72 hours to exit the country. The move came after the Trump administration officially recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation’s interim president.

“Every time we launch these interventionist regime change wars, it is not only our veterans who pay the price for that,” Gabbard said in the video. “Every single one of us pays the price. We have spent trillions of your taxpayer dollars to pay for these wars, taking those dollars away from our communities and our people who need them right here at home.”

Earlier Thursday, she also tweeted about Venezuela, saying that the U.S. should “stay out” of the country and allow its citizens to “determine their future.”

Gabbard then spoke in the video about how love can be a driver for creating change in society.

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“We are the ones who have the power to make change. It takes every single one of our hands, our hearts and our voices motivated by this love and aloha to take on those forces and those obstacles that can seem too great to overcome,” she said. “There is no force more powerful than love.”

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The release of the clip came nearly two weeks after Gabbard revealed in an interview that she had decided to run for president and that a formal announcement would be coming.

She joins a growing field of Democrats seeking their party's nomination. U.S. Housing Secretary Julian Castro recently announced a bid, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Sen. Kamala Harris of California say they are running.

Fox News’ Alex Pappas, Nicole Darrah and The Associated Press contributed to this report.