Kirsten Gillibrand and Tulsi Gabbard, declared candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, faced tricky questions on Sunday about former political positions.

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In a growing 2020 field, Gillibrand, who succeeded Hillary Clinton as a New York senator, could be one of the more substantial candidates. Gabbard, a Hawaii congresswoman and army veteran who would be the youngest president ever, starts as a rank outsider. On Sunday, both appeared on the political talkshows.

Among other issues, Gillibrand was asked about previous campaigns and the hardline immigration views she held. In a shorter interview, Gabbard was asked about past anti-LGBTQ sentiments and work for an anti-LGBTQ group.

CNN reported this week that Gillibrand once advocated positions including closed borders and “expedited” deportations and, among other statements, said she was “firmly against providing amnesty to illegal immigrants”. The senator responded by saying it was “important to know when you are wrong and to do what is right”.

I am nothing like him and never will be because my values haven't changed Kirsten Gillibrand on Donald Trump

On Sunday she faced her first test as a candidate on the same outlet’s Sunday show, State of the Union. She was speaking from West Des Moines, Iowa, where she was setting her stall out to voters.

During the now 30-day government shutdown, which was triggered by an impasse over Trump’s demand for a border wall and refusal to give undocumented migrants a path to citizenship, Gillibrand has said the president’s views on immigration are racist.

On CNN, she was asked: “If Trump’s immigration positions are racist, were they racist when you held some of those positions as well?”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tulsi Gabbard was asked about past anti-LGBTQ sentiments and work for an anti-LGBTQ group on Sunday. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

“They certainly weren’t empathetic and they were not kind,” she said. “And I took the time … I listened, and I realised that things I had said were wrong. I was not caring about others, I was not fighting for other people’s kids as I would fight for my own and I was wrong to feel that way.”

Asked to define the difference between her former views and those espoused by Trump, she said: “So what President Trump is doing is creating fear and division and a darkness across this country that I’ve never seen before …

I'm not thinking about politics right now Tulsi Gabbard

“We have to restore that integrity to the presidency, to this country. We have always been a compassionate country. We have always cared about others … President Trump is destroying the moral fabric of what this country stands for.”

Perhaps contradicting her answer about her own former views, she added: “I am nothing like him and never will be because my values haven’t changed.”

Gillibrand also defended her actions around the resignation of Al Franken, the Minnesota senator who stepped down in 2017 over allegations of sexual misconduct, and sought to explain her decision to run for the White House in light of a promise in a state election debate last year to serve a full term as a New York senator.

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Gabbard also appeared on State of the Union. CNN reported this week that when she was in the Hawaii state house, she “touted working for her father’s anti-gay organization, which mobilized to pass a measure against same-sex marriage in Hawaii and promoted controversial conversion therapy”.

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The congresswoman apologised. Asked on Sunday how she could convince voters her own conversion was genuine, she said: “Through my actions.

“I have spoken about my upbringing. I was raised in a very socially conservative household, with views and beliefs and things I no longer hold today. Like most of the country my views have evolved, to the point where now you can look to my record over the last six years in Congress, that reflect what’s in my heart and my commitment to fighting for equality, my commitment to fighting for LGBT rights.”

Gabbard also seemed, however, to make a potential misstep. Asked about reports she would face a challenger for her House seat if she does not make it to the White House, the candidate for the presidency told CNN: “I’m not thinking about politics right now.”