NORTH HAMPTON — U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, spoke to a full capacity crowd in North Hampton’s Centennial Hall on Sunday. It was the second day of campaigning in the Granite State for the 2020 presidential hopeful, who described her definition of “aloha” to voters.

“The reason we start our conversations with aloha, is that it’s a word that means we are all brothers and sisters, going beyond some of the things people tend to use to divide us.”

Gabbard called for an end to “self-serving politicians fomenting hatred and bigotry,” in what she saw as a betrayal of the founding fathers original promise of unity.

“It breaks my heart to see how far we’ve gone from that vision,” she said.

In her speech, Gabbard, who is an Iraq War veteran, addressed the Trump administration’s recent declaration the U.S. will abandon the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia.

“In Hawaii a year ago we went through something that made the reality of this threat all too clear,” she said. In January 2018, Hawaiian residents received an emergency text message that ballistic missiles were launched and to seek shelter. “The alarm itself turned out to be false, but the reason people reacted the way they did is because the threat is real,” Gabbard said.

In foreign policy, Gabbard said she espouses a strict non-interventionist approach, and has opposed U.S. foreign intervention and regime change wars in places like Iraq and Syria. Some of her foreign policy initiatives have drawn bi-partisan criticism, particularly a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017.

“People ask me ‘why do you talk about these issues of foreign policy, these are things happening in other places, why don't you talk more about domestic issues?’” said Gabbard. “What is more domestic than our very existence?”

Elected as a Hawaii state representative at age 21, Gabbard joined the National Guard after 9/11 and went on to serve two tours of duty in Iraq. She continues to serve today as a major in the Army National Guard.

Since being elected to Congress in 2013, Gabbard has positioned herself as a progressive notable. She departed her post as vice-chair of the DNC to support Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary race.

On the domestic front, Gabbard supports universal healthcare, raising the minimum wage and combating the cost of higher education as a for-profit venture.

“My father-in-law is a public school teacher in Hawaii and he just turned 61 years old, and he is still paying off his college loans,” said Gabbard. “This is a story that is not unique or different, it’s something that is squashing and crushing the dreams of far too many people.”

Today at age 37, Gabbard is the youngest declared candidate in an ever-expanding field for president, and the first to have Hindu-American and Pacific Islander heritage.

“We got to flip this thing on its head once again,” said Gabbard. “And make sure that as we look at how these policies need to change - that we are putting the well being of the people first.”