Election 2020: Presidential Hopeful Democrat Tulsi Gabbard Rejects Endorsement By David Duke

Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who kicked off her 2020 presidential campaign Saturday, has rejected an endorsement from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

"I have strongly denounced David Duke’s hateful views and his so-called 'support' multiple times in the past, and reject his support," Gabbard said in a strongly worded statement Tuesday.

Gabbard's statement was issued in response to a tweet Duke made from his personal account on Monday. The tweet, which he pinned, reads: "Tulsi Gabbard in 2020." It links to an article about a proposal by President Trump to keep U.S. armed forces in Iraq.

Gabbard, an Army National Guard veteran who was deployed twice to the Middle East during her military service, has posited herself as an opponent of military intervention in conflict zones.

Duke, who has expressed anti-Semitic views, also tweeted that Gabbard "is currently the only Presidential candidate who doesn't want to send White children off to die in Israel."

While Gabbard's campaign might be in this infancy, this isn't the first time the presidential hopeful has faced controversy. Gabbard, who rose to prominence as a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders during his own presidential bid, recently came under fire for her past views and support of anti-gay conversion therapy. She has since apologized for her former negative stance against the LGBT community.

Duke, a former KKK member who founded a branch of the white supremacist hate group in Louisiana in 1974, lead as a grand wizard of the KKK until 1979, and served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1989 to 1992, emerged in the spotlight again in 2016 when he endorsed then-primary candidate Donald Trump for president.

"Make no mistake about it, our people have played a HUGE role in electing Trump!" he stated at the time.

Duke's endorsement of Gabbard also isn't new. The same year he publicly supported Trump, Duke tweeted emphatically about the Hawaii congresswoman and expressed his interest in his personal pick for her as Secretary of State.

Gabbard, who is both Hindu and of Samoan descent, responded to Duke on Twitter, expressing her disdain for his support.

"U didn't know I'm Polynesian/Cauc? Dad couldn't use 'whites only' water fountain. No thanks. Ur white nationalism is pure evil," she tweeted back at him.