Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard shared personal stories with Granite State voters Tuesday.>> Download the FREE WMUR appThe Hawaii congresswoman took part in WMUR's "Candidate Café" at the Airport Diner. One voter wondered about Gabbard's first name."(Tulsi) is a sacred flower from India," Gabbard said. "My mom is practicing Hindu. We were all given Hindu names."Gabbard said she was a tomboy growing up in Hawaii who taught herself how to surf on a friend's board."It was, I think, a 7-foot-long board, but it was very narrow, and they use it for big-wave surfing, like 20- to 25-foot waves," she said. "It's not for a beginner who's trying to learn. It's very hard to get up and balance on."Gabbard said the ocean is a refuge, and environmentalism was one of her first passions. To raise awareness among Hawaiian youth, she created a superhero character named Water Woman, whose arch nemesis was known as Oily Al."We were presenting to first-, second-, third- and fourth-graders," she said. "Water Woman would swoop in just in the nick of time and stop him and tell him, 'Here's why that's such a bad idea.'"Gabbard got an early start in politics, but she told voters her service in a medical unit in Iraq gave her life new direction and made her an outspoken opponent of war. "When I came back, a lot of my colleagues in the State House then said, 'OK, great. You're home. You can come back, run for your old seat, get back to life as you had left it, and I just couldn't."

Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard shared personal stories with Granite State voters Tuesday.



>> Download the FREE WMUR app




The Hawaii congresswoman took part in WMUR's "Candidate Café" at the Airport Diner. One voter wondered about Gabbard's first name.

"(Tulsi) is a sacred flower from India," Gabbard said. "My mom is practicing Hindu. We were all given Hindu names."

Gabbard said she was a tomboy growing up in Hawaii who taught herself how to surf on a friend's board.

"It was, I think, a 7-foot-long board, but it was very narrow, and they use it for big-wave surfing, like 20- to 25-foot waves," she said. "It's not for a beginner who's trying to learn. It's very hard to get up and balance on."

Gabbard said the ocean is a refuge, and environmentalism was one of her first passions. To raise awareness among Hawaiian youth, she created a superhero character named Water Woman, whose arch nemesis was known as Oily Al.

"We were presenting to first-, second-, third- and fourth-graders," she said. "Water Woman would swoop in just in the nick of time and stop him and tell him, 'Here's why that's such a bad idea.'"

Gabbard got an early start in politics, but she told voters her service in a medical unit in Iraq gave her life new direction and made her an outspoken opponent of war.

"When I came back, a lot of my colleagues in the State House then said, 'OK, great. You're home. You can come back, run for your old seat, get back to life as you had left it, and I just couldn't."