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CNN Excludes Tulsi Gabbard From Town Hall That Includes Lower-Polling Candidates

CNN excluded Rep. Tulsi Gabbard from their town hall series although she’s polling higher than other candidates invited to participate.

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On Feb. 5 and 6, CNN will host a New Hampshire town hall with eight presidential candidates, including: Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Andrew Yang, Tom Steyer, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, and Deval Patrick.

Two top 10 Democratic presidential candidates are excluded from CNN’s series. The first is former NEw York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who is not competing in the New Hampshire primary. The second is Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.

Gabbard is polling nationally higher than Patrick, a candidate who was asked to join CNN’s series. According to Real Clear Politics’ latest aggregation, Gabbard is polling at 1.8 percent nationally, while Patrick is at 0.5 percent. In New Hampshire, Gabbard is polling ahead of Yang, Steyer, and Patrick, all three of whom were invited to the town hall.

In Manchester, Gabbard supporters protested CNN for excluding her from the series. According to Fox News’ Andres Del Aguila, Gabbard supporters chanted “Let Tulsi speak.”

Gabbard did not attend the protests. She released a statement calling out CNN for media bias and consequent election interference.

You can call this by many names: Media bias. Election interference. Political gamesmanship by the Democratic establishment. But regardless of motive, the end-result is that the American people lose. They lose the ability to hear directly from a candidate with a broad, inclusive message for change. They lose the opportunity to show their support and spread the message, about a dynamic, anti-establishment candidate breathing fresh life into the Democratic Party. And they lose the freedom to make educated political decisions without media manipulation.

Gabbard concluded by saying, “CNN’s behavior is un-American and a betrayal of our democratic ideals.”