by Ken Spitze

Created on: March 03, 2009

On January 27, 2009, Kirsten Gillibrand became the junior US Senator from New York. Governor David Paterson appointed her to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton, who became Secretary of State. Sen. Gillibrand had served one term in the US House of Representatives. In November of 2008, she was elected to serve New York's 20th district for a second term, but resigned to assume her new post.

She is considered to lean toward the center of the political spectrum: in the House, she belonged to the Blue Dog Coalition, and group of the more conservative Democrats in that body. Her appointment drew some criticism from more progressive Democrats because of her pro-gun stance. However, she gained a 70% rating from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action and only an 8% rating from the American Conservative Union. She is pro-choice, supports federal funding for stem cell research and opposes privatizing the social security system. The American Civil Liberties Union gave her a 90% rating.

Prior to her election to Congress, she was a lawyer in private practice and served as Special Counsel to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. In her first bid for public office, she defeated then incumbent Rep. John Sweeney, who had served for four terms. She won by margin of 53% to 47%. Two years later, in 2008, she was re-elected by a much larger margin, defeating Sandy Treadwell 62% to 38%. She held the post just a few weeks of this term before joining the Senate.

Her ascendancy to the Senate came after many weeks of controversy surrounding the possibility that Caroline Kennedy might assume the post. Although Kennedy, daughter of former President John F. Kennedy, has been active in many non-profit organizations throughout her life, and had served as a fundraiser for the New York Department of Education, she had never run for election to any post. Many who thought very highly of Kennedy nonetheless felt that a Senate seat should go to someone like Gillibrand, who had successfully run for office.

Gillibrand has been assigned to four Senate committees, including the Special Committee on aging. In addition, she serves on the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry and the Committee on Foreign Relations. These are very similar in scope to her two committee assignments in the House: in that body she held a post on the Agriculture and Armed Services committees. Her fourth Senate assignment is on the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

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