Rep. Tulsi Gabbard endorses Senator Sanders

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, the first Hindu elected to Congress, endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders in his bid to become President of the United States this morning on "Meet the Press." She also resigned as Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee. Just last month, she said she couldn't take sides due to her position with the DNC.

Gabbard specifically pointed to Sanders' position on military intervention as part of her endorsement reasoning.

"As a veteran, as a soldier, I've seen firsthand the true cost of war. … As we look at our choices as to who our next Commander-in-chief will be is to recognize the necessity to have a Commander-in-chief who has foresight. Who exercises good judgment. Who looks beyond the consequences -- who looks at the consequences of the actions that they are willing to take before they take those actions. So that we don't continue to find ourselves in these failures that have resulted in chaos in the Middle East and so much loss of life," Gabbard said.

This endorsement arrived less than 24 hours after Sanders was handily defeated by democratic primary opponent Hillary Clinton in South Carolina's primary.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton led Sanders by nearly 50 points with 74 percent of the vote to Sanders' 26 percent.

"We got decimated, that's what happened," the Vermont senator told Chuck Todd earlier in the preogram.

"Among older African Americans it was pathetic from our perspective," Sanders continued.

Clinton won African Americans in South Carolina by 71 points according to NBC News Exit Polls.

But Sanders reiterated that he is in this race for the long haul, mentioning that he is even looking ahead to the New York and California primaries held on April 19 and June 7 respectively.

Donald Trump is leading in the Super Tuesday states of Georgia and Tennessee, while Ted Cruz is ahead in his home state of Texas, according to a trio of new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls.

And Hillary Clinton is topping Bernie Sanders in all three of those southern states by about a 2-to-1 margin.