Kirsten Gillibrand: biography
Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand is a politician, lawyer, and she is a Democrat. Since 2009, Gillibrand has been serving as the U. S. Senator from New York, and in 2007–2009, she served in the House of Representatives.
Childhood and youth
Kirsten Gillibrand was born in New York in 1966 to Polly Edwina and Douglas Paul Rutnik. She also has two siblings: a brother Douglas Rutnik, and a sister, Erin Rutnik Tschantret. Their parents both work as attorneys, and they divorced in the 1980s. Besides, Kirsten’s father works as an associate of Al D'Amato, a former U.S. Senator, and her mom was the longtime Mayor of Albany, New York. All in all, Gillibrand’s family background leaves no questions about how she chose her path.
Only after she graduated from the law school, Gillibrand started using her birth name Kirsten, before this, she always named herself Tina. Speaking about her education, Kirsten attended Emma Willard School, a private school, and then Dartmouth College where she majored in Asian Studies. Gillibrand also studied for a while in Beijing, where she was roommates with the actress Connie Britton. During her time at Dartmouth, Gillibrand was an intern at the U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato's Albany office. In 1991, she received her Juris Doctor degree at the UCLA School of Law.
Law career
In 1991, Gillibrand started working as an associate at the law company Davis Polk & Wardwell. Next year, she left this firm to serve as a judicial clerk to Judge Roger Miner in Albany. When Kirsten was working at Davis Polk, she became a part and later the leader of the Women's Leadership Forum. During that time, First Lady Hillary Clinton had a speech to this group, and that inspired Gillibrand and encouraged her to be involved in politics more.
In 2001, Kirsten got the position of the partner in the Boies, Schiller & Flexner in Manhattan. Four years later, she left this company and started her campaign for Congress in 2006.
U.S. House of Representatives
Gillibrand wanted to run for office in 2004, but Hillary Clinton considered that the election in 2006 would be more suitable for Kirsten. The New York's 20th congressional district has been in the hands of Republicans since 1913, and Kirsten was a Democrat. During her campaign, Gillibrand had support from other Democrats such as Mike McNulty, Bill and Hillary Clinton, etc. On November 5, the polls of Siena College Research Institute showed that Kirsten was ahead of Republican Sweeney 46% to 43%. Eventually, she won with 53% of the votes.
In 2008, it was noted that Gillibrand would have issues with winning again because Republicans largely outnumbered Democrats in this district. However, Kirsten won her reelection having 62% of the votes while Sandy Treadwell got only 38%. In February 2009, Gillibrand endorsed the candidate Scott Murphy who was chosen to take her vacant seat in the House because Kirsten got her position in the Senate. In April that year, Murphy won the place.
U.S. Senate
At the end of 2008, President Barack Obama chose Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of State, which meant that her senate seat became empty. Under New York law, the governor needs to find a replacement. Governor David Paterson has been choosing between various candidates, including Andrew Cuomo and Caroline Kennedy while Kirsten was quietly campaigning. Eventually, on January 23, 2009, the governor announced that he had chosen Gillibrand. Three days later, she was sworn. Right before her appointment, Kirsten expressed some of her beliefs by contacting the Empire State Pride Agenda to support same-sex marriage.
In the 2010 election, Gillibrand faced some respected rivals like Gail Goode and Joseph DioGuardi but eventually won in November with 63–35%. In 2012, she ran for a full six-year term, and there she faced Wendy E. Long who belonged to both Republican and Conservative Party lines. Kirsten won the election with 72.2% of the votes. Six years later, she was re-elected for a second term in the Senate.
For 2019, Gillibrand has a net worth that is estimated at $80,000 to $200,000. Her primary source of income is the congressional salary.
2020 Presidential campaign
In 2018, Gillibrand was considered as part of the Hell-No Caucus together with other Senators, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. All of them later decided to run for the presidential election in 2020. So in January 2019, Gillibrand she said in the interview with Stephen Colbert that she was going to run for the President. In March, she released a video in which she officially announced her plans. Gillibrand’s campaign included investments in child health, adoption and vitro fertilization and a lot of citizens donated to her campaign in the Web. In the third debate, Kirsten failed, and on August 28, 2019, she withdrew from the race.
Personal life
Kirsten met Jonathan on a blind date. John was from England, and he had plans to stay in the United States only during his study at Columbia University, but due to the development of their relationship, the man stayed here. In 2001, the couple married. Kirsten and her husband have two children: Theodore (born in 2003) and Henry (born in 2008). Now the family lives in Brunswick, but most of the time they spend in Washington, D.C. because of the work. In her bio on the Twitter page, Kirsten wrote "Mom to Theo, Henry and dog Maple. Wife to Jonathan. U.S. Senator from NY” which is very sweet. On her social pages, she shares her views with the followers.
In 2009, Gillibrands shocked everyone because of the news that the spouses kept two guns under the bed. Later, Kirsten’s staff stated that the family did not keep guns anymore.
Published works
In 2014, Gillibrand’s first book, Off the Sidelines: Raise Your Voice, Change the World, was published. It turned out to be rather personal, and there Kirsten wrote about sexism in the Senate and recalled memories about members of Congress commenting on her weight and appearance at all. Kirsten’s book had the eighth position on The New York Times Best Seller list.
