Could anyone that replaces her be less to the left than she is?
If so this might be a net gain
Stalin, maybe. But it's close.
Hawaii is extremely solid D.
From Hawaii? Are you kidding?
This is the "everything but Honolulu and environs" district, so one would expect it to be the less liberal of Hawaii's districts, but it has never gone to a Republican in 50 years. It was Maizie Hirono's district, and she is quite far to the left from what I've seen. Obama got over 70% of the vote and Hillary got over 60%.
Tulsi is no conservative, but she was about as far to the right as the district would elect. How many other possible Democrat candidates have a military record and a father who ran for office as a socially conservative Republican (before he switched parties to get elected)? Gabbard Sr. even ran as a Republican for the seat his daughter holds now and got whupped.