Based on what? Because she has said things you want to hear? Is that what you mean by "opining all the right stuff"?
You have to look deeper than that. She's a political chameleon, nothing more than an opportunist. In 2016, she endorsed and campaigned for Bernie Sanders. In 2020, she endorsed Biden. In February of this year at CPAC she ran with the same RAT line of "Our Democracy is under attack." Why not say "Our Republic is under attack"?
In 2019, after voting "present" on Trump's impeachment, and after President Trump commended her for voting present, Gabbard said publicly that Trump was unfit to serve.
Just days before this article, she said Trump should be censured.
She could have stayed in Congress, but I sense she left because she knew her constituents were too liberal for her to continue on.