Getty Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has joined what is expected to be a crowded field for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. The 52-year-old senator told Stephen Colbert on the “Late Show” on Tuesday that she is filing paperwork to form an exploratory committee for president.
“I’m going to run for president of the United States because as a young mom, I’m going to fight for other people’s kids as hard as I would fight for my own,” she said on Colbert’s CBS talk show. Gillibrand added that she has, “the compassion, the courage and the fearless determination” to be president, according to The Washington Post.
“The first thing I would do is restore what’s been lost: the integrity and the compassion in this country,” she told Colbert. “I would bring people together to start getting things done.”
Gillibrand, an attorney, is in her second full term in the U.S. Senate after serving two terms in the U.S. House. She was seen as a moderate with conservative leanings, especially on gun control, when she entered Congress in 2006, but her views have since shifted to the left in many areas.
Gillibrand has served a fierce critic of President Donald Trump during his time in office and has been a major proponent of the #MeToo movement, fighting against sexual harassment and assault in the workplace and beyond, including her own place of work and the military.
She joins a Democratic field that already includes Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, Washington Governor Jay Inslee and former West Virginia State Senator Richard Ojeda. Meanwhile, fellow senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Sherrod Brown and Amy Klobuchar are also considering bids. Former Vice President Joe Biden, ex-Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke and 2016 candidate Bernie Sanders are among many others who could enter the ring.
Troy Price, the chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, told CNN that Gillibrand has been calling top Democrats in his state as she plans to make a visit to the key primary battleground. “Voters are ready to get to know her,” Price told CNN. “So, I think it’s important for anyone who comes through to start thinking about those relationships because a caucus process is one where people want to get to know you” before they support you.”
Gillibrand has hired her longtime chief of staff, Jess Fassler, to be her campaign manager, CNN reports. Dan McNally, the former political director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, will be her campaign director and Meredith Kelly, formerly the DSCC’s spokesperson, will be her communications director, according to CNN.
Here’s what you need to know about Senator Kirsten Gillibrand:
1. Gillibrand Was Born in Albany & Attended Dartmouth University Before Going to UCLA Law School
TONIGHT: @SenGillibrand stops by @colbertlateshow to announce that she is forming an exploratory committee to run for President of the United States! #LSSC
Kirsten Rutnik Gillibrand was born in Albany, New York, as the daughter of Douglas Rutnik and Polly Noonan, who were both lawyers. She has an older brother, Douglas Rutnik Jr., and a younger sister, Erin Rutnik Tschantret. Her maternal grandmother, Dorothea Noonan was involved in politics as the founder of the Albany Democratic Women’s Club and was a key part of the city’s political machine. Gillibrand’s father was a lobbyist.
Gillibrand graduated from Emma Willard School, an all-girls private school in Troy, New York, in 1984. She then attended Dartmouth College, where she earned a degree in Asian Studies. While at Darmouth, she spent time studying abroad in Beijing, where she was roommates with actress Connie Britton, and Taiwan.
After Dartmouth, Gillibrand attended the UCLA Law School, graduating in 1991.
During her appearance on Colbert, Gillibrand touted her support for universal health care, public school and job training programs, according to CBS News.
“But you are never going to accomplish any of these things if you don’t take on the systems of power which make all of that impossible,” she told Colbert. “Which means taking on institutional racism, it’s taking on the corruption and greed in Washington, and taking on the special interests that write legislation in the dead of night, and I know that I have the compassion, courage, and fearless determination to get that done.”
2. She Worked at Private Law Firms in New York, Including as a Defense Attorney for Tobacco Giant Philip Morris, Before Getting Involved in Politics
GettyKirsten Gillibrand.
Gillibrand, who was a law clerk to Judge Roger Miner on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Albany, began working at the Davis Polk & Wardwell law firm in Manhattan as an associate in 1991. While there she served as a defense attorney as part of the team working for tobacco giant Philip Morris. Gillibrand has faced criticism for her work for the company, but she told New York Magazine that she was able to work on pro bono cases for abused women and children and tenants who were living in unsafe homes because of it.
Gillibrand’s first foray into politics came while she was still working as an attorney. She became involved in the Women’s Leadership Forum, a program of the Democratic National Committee, after being inspired by a Hillary Clinton speech. Gillibrand then served as special counsel to then-Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Andrew Cuomo during the final year of the Clinton administration. She worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2000 U.S. Senate campaign.
Before running for Congress, Gillibrand returned to private law, working for Boies, Schiller & Flexner.
3. Gillibrand Was Elected to Congress in 2006 & Was Appointed to the U.S. Senate in 2009 When Hillary Clinton Became Secretary of State
GettySenator Kirsten Gillibrand.
Gillibrand first ran for office in 2006, seeking New York’s 20th congressional district seat. Gillibrand defeated three-term Republican incumbent John Sweeney. Gillibrand held on to the seat in 2008 by a 62 percent to 38 percent margin over challenger Sandy Treadwell, who was then New York’s secretary of state.
In 2009, Hillary Clinton left her seat representing New York in the U.S. Senate to become President Barack Obama’s secretary of state. Governor David Patterson appointed Gillibrand to fill Clinton’s seat, picking her over a group of prominent Democrats that included future New York governor Andrew Cuomo and Caroline Kennedy. She won a special election in 2010 over former Republican congressman Joseph DioGuardi by a 63 percent to 35 percent margin.
Gillibrand easily won re-election in 2012 and 2018.
4. She Is Married With 2 Young Children & Has Published 2 Books, Including a 2018 Picture Book for Kids About Suffragists Who Who Women the Right to Vote
TwitterJonathan Gillibrand, Kirsten Gillibrand’s husband.
Kirsten Gillibrand is married to Jonathan Gillibrand, a venture capitalist. They met in New York City on a blind date and have been married since 2001. She was studying at Columbia University at the time, pursuing her master’s degree.
Gillibrand and her husband have two sons, Theodore, born in 2003, and Henry, born in 2008. She earned a standing ovation on the floor of the House of Representatives after showing up for work one day after giving birth to Henry.
The Gillibrands split their time between New York and D.C. They sold their home in Greenport, New York, in 2010 for $1.3 million and moved to a home in Brunswick, New York, closer to where Kirsten grew up.
Along with her work in politics and as a lawyer, Gillibrand is a published author. Her first book, “Off the Sidelines: Raise Your Voice, Change the World,” was published in 2014. The candid memoir included details about her rise through politics and the harassment she endured from other members of Congress.
Gillibrand published her second book in 2018, a children’s picture book called “Bold and Brave: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote” about suffragists.
“Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was inspired by her own great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother to be bold and brave–to stand up and fight for what she believes in. But who inspired them? The long chain of women before them who spoke out for what’s right–women who taught each generation that followed how to be bold and brave,” the book’s description states.
5. Gillibrand’s Positions Have Evolved, Especially on Gun Control While in Office & She Has Become Outspoke on Sexual Assault & Harassment Issues
GettySenator Kirsten Gillibrand attends OZY Fest 2018 at Rumsey Playfield, Central Park on July 22, 2018 in New York City.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand entered Congress with views that at times leaned conservative, especially on gun control. She was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition in the House, a group of fiscally conservative Democrats. She also held conservative views on immigration and guns. She once had an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association, but now touts an “F” rating.
Gillibrand has also called for ICE to be disbanded and for more spending on the social safety net for lower-income families, along with tax cuts for the middle class. She has long been a supporter of same-sex marriage, LGBTQ rights and is pro-choice. While in the Senate, she has been outspoken about issues surrounding sexual harassment and sexual assault, especially in the military.
GettyKirsten Gillibrand.
Gillibrand has not shied away from clashes with President Donald Trump. In December 2017, she called for his resignation, citing numerous sexual misconduct accusations made against him by women. He lashed out on Twitter in response.
“Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office ‘begging’ for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump,” the president tweeted.
Gillibrand called his tweet a “sexist smear” that was “intended to silence me.”
She has also received backlash from some Democrats after she called for former Minnesota senator Al Franken to resign after he was accused of inappropriately touching women. Some said she should have waited for an investigation and allowed Franken to fight the allegations.
“Sometimes you just have to do what’s right, even if it’s painful … if I can’t protect the women in my workspace, if I can’t — not only stand up for women who feel abused, or feel harassed in our workplace — then I’m not doing my job, and so I just got to a point where enough was enough,” she told CNN.
Gillibrand also told the New York Times that in hindsight, President Bill Clinton should have resigned because of his behavior with Monica Lewinsky. “Things have changed today, and I think under those circumstances there should be a very different reaction. Yes, I think that is the appropriate response.”