Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii swept through Fremont on Sunday afternoon on a campaign stop for her budding bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, which has crystallized largely around matters of war and peace.

Gabbard, who deployed twice to the Middle East as a member of the Army National Guard, delivered a brief but wide-ranging speech on the need for domestic political unity, the corrosive forces of money in politics and her support for Medicare for All.

The strongest reactions from attendees came when Gabbard homed in on the enormous costs of America’s military activity abroad, which she condemned for having siphoned money away from domestic priorities, undermined national security and trampled on the sovereignty of nations.

Conflicts like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken “trillions of dollars out of our pockets for health care, infrastructure, education, for clean energy,” Gabbard said in the speech at the half-full Royal Palace Banquet Hall. “We cannot address these challenges, we cannot make these bold investments unless we end these wasteful regime-change wars.”

While barely evoking the Trump administration, she warned that the administration’s decision last month to suspend one of the last remaining nuclear arms treaties with Russia was hurtling the world into a renewed nuclear arms race.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. We can move our country away from war, and towards peace,” she said.

“I know she’s a big advocate for cutting military spending. There are so many programs at home we could be spending that money on,” said Traci Dickson of San Jose. Dickson came to see Gabbard speak as she surveys the crowded field of Democratic presidential hopefuls. “I wanted to see if she has the positions that represent me, and whether she has the stamina and the support to go all the way.”

Supporter Rajat Simhan of Mountain House, San Joaquin County, was impressed by Gabbard’s composure on a recent CNN appearance and said that her anti-interventionist positions resonate with him.

“We don’t need these unnecessary wars,” said Simhan. “As she’s said, we’ve interfered in too many people’s affairs.”

In keeping with her emphasis of diplomacy over military intervention, Gabbard has long criticized U.S. involvement in Syria’s civil war. She met with Syria President Bashar al-Assad in 2017, after reports surfaced indicating he had used chemical weapons on civilians, a move that led some to question her judgment around foreign policy. She has defended the meeting as a genuine attempt at peacemaking and criticized President Trump for using the chemical attacks as a pretext for his decision to bomb Syrian airfields.

Gabbard entered the presidential race in January. Her event in Fremont was among a handful of Bay Area appearances and fundraising stops in recent days, which included visits to San Francisco and Saratoga.

Gabbard was elected to the House in 2012, 10 years after she became the youngest person to be elected to the Hawaiian legislature. She is the first Hindu elected to Congress. She resigned her role as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee in order to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primaries, bucking the party line and bolstering her appeal with some progressive Democrats. Early polling numbers have placed her well behind Democratic contenders like Sanders and Sen. Kamala Harris.

Her presidential bid has also drawn renewed scrutiny — and in some cases, condemnation — of her activism in the late 1990s and early 2000s around preventing same-sex marriage, largely alongside her father, Hawaiian state Sen. Mike Gabbard. He railed against gay rights in their home state and worked to pass a constitutional amendment that gave the Hawaii legislature the power to ban same-sex marriages.

Gabbard has since apologized for saying and believing “things that were wrong” and “very hurtful to the LGBTQ community.” Her past anti-gay statements and advocacy could prove to be a stumbling block for some Democratic voters, but she has pointed to her congressional voting record around gay rights as evidence of her reconsideration of the issue.

“She’s preaching a message of standing in solidarity of service to each other,” said Dorian Bodine, a supporter from San Jose. “That’s probably something we all need right now.”

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa