As the Iowa Democrat Party continued on Tuesday to sort out what happened with a voting app and other problems that led to delays in announcing the results of Monday’s caucuses, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said it looked as though leaders were “rigging” the results for billionaire candidates.
“Thousands of people turned out to cast the first votes of this presidential primary in the Iowa Caucuses last night,” Gabbard, a Hawaii Democrat and a 2020 presidential contender, said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, the voices of the people of Iowa have yet to be heard as the vote count continues, leaving voters frustrated and without the transparency and integrity in this process that they expect and deserve,” the statement further noted.
““It’s clear that the corporate media, the military-industrial complex, and the party establishment are threatened by [my] message, because it challenges their grip on power,” she said.
“They will do everything to silence us, while also rigging the primary process for billionaire candidates who think they can bypass the kind of grassroots campaigning that is the fuel of our movement,” Gabbard continued, alluding to billionaire media mogul Michael Bloomberg and billionaire investor Tom Steyer, both of whom entered the presidential race late and are running on their own funding.
Last week, the Democratic National Committee announced it was changing its criteria for its February debate in Las Vegas.
The rule change allows candidates to appear on stage without any individual-donor requirement, a move which benefits Bloomberg, especially, who has not accepted any money from donors because he is self-funding his campaign.