Kirsten Gillibrand

Senate-nominee Kirsten Gillibrand

Kirsten Gillibrand (born December 9, 1966) (pronounced JILL-uh-brand) is a second-term Democratic House Congresswoman representing NY district 20, a traditionally Republican district stretching along the Hudson River in upstate New York. She was nominated on Jan. 23, 2009, by Governor David Paterson to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate. With her seating expected any day, at forty-two years old she will be the youngest member of the Senate.

Career

Scion of an upstate New York family long involved in politics, she graduated from Dartmouth College (1988) and UCLA Law School. At Dartmouth learned Chinese, spent a semester in China, and wrote a senior project on a conservative topic, "The History of Tibetan Resistance to the Chinese Occupation of Tibet 1950-1988."

She is a Catholic, and is married with two children. Her husband, Jonathan Gillibrand, is a British citizen who works in finance.

Gillibrand worked for both Republicans and Democrats, and clerked for a senior federal judge --a Reagan appointee--before working for a major law firm in New York City.

Election

Gillibrand was elected in 2006 after defeating incumbent Republican John E. Sweeney. She won by 6% of the vote after news of her opponent's long record of drunkenness was reported by three newspapers as well as a wife-beating incident when state police were called to his home, not to mention his ties with disreputable lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

House

Gillibrand is considered a Blue-dog Democrat for her conservative credentials, including a 100% rating from the NRA, supports offshore drilling, and voted against the $700 billion bailout. However, she supports civil liberties and has a 100% rating from the ACLU. She supported redeployment of troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, and voted with the Bush administration and against her own party leadership on funding the Iraq war.

See also

• Michael Powell and Raymond Hernandez, "Gillibrand Is a Centrist With a Tenacious Style," New York Times Jan. 24, 2009