Kai Kahele, a Democratic state senator who is running to succeed Gabbard in Congress, said the two most consequential votes that a member of Congress will ever cast are on whether to send troops into harm’s way and whether to impeach a president. He said her decision to vote “present” was disappointing and unacceptable.
“It’s a political stunt, is what I think it was,” Kahele said in a phone interview. He said the vote left their congressional district voiceless yet again, noting Gabbard has recently skipped most House votes while she campaigns for the Democratic nomination for president.
According to the website govtrack.us, Gabbard missed 88.7% of the 141 House votes taken in the past three months.
