Gillibrand's dual role: The Republican-friendly Democratic campaign chief

Yahoo

2 days ago

Days after Donald Trump won a second term, Kirsten Gillibrand said that Democrats might need four years to retake the Senate majority.
She's more optimistic these days.
'A lot has changed in the last four months,' Gillibrand told Semafor in an interview this week from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters as she navigates her party's steep path back to Senate control. 'I did not expect all of these horrible things to happen so quickly.'
Gillibrand was referring to the president's tariffs and the Medicaid cuts that Republicans attached to their tax and spending bill. But the New Yorker is not the typical campaign arm chief — for all her criticism of the GOP agenda, she maintains surprisingly close relationships with Republican senators, even doing joint media hits with one of them. And she's the lead Democrat on a crypto bill that's split her party.
Another thing that sets Gillibrand apart: She actually wanted the DSCC job, unlike some predecessors who were talked into it. And her fellow New York senator is a former DSCC chief who remains one of Washington's most intense political strategists.
'She's very friendly with Republicans. That's an asset,' Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said of Gillibrand. 'But I don't think it will detract from her making sure we win every seat we can.'
Gillibrand's chief opponent in that task is National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C. He's one of her close GOP friends, in fact; they attend Thursday Bible study together, and she likened their rivalry to Looney Tunes characters.
'We joke [at] every Bible study that we're like Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote,' Gillibrand said.
She needs to make sure she plays the role of Roadrunner, angling to drop an anvil on the coyote's head by picking up the four Senate seats needed to flip the majority back to Democrats. Most analysts see Democrats as underdogs in the battle for the chamber.
Still, Democrats have major recruiting aspirations, particularly in Maine and North Carolina – their best pick-up opportunities. Democrats want the popular former Gov. Roy Cooper to run against Republican Sen. Thom Tillis; Cooper will make a decision this summer. Former Rep. Wiley Nickel, D-N.C., is already running.
Tillis told Semafor he occasionally buttonholes Gillibrand about his own race.
'I asked her how recruiting was going. 'I'm hearing different things. Is Cooper in? Is he out?' … she demurred,' Tillis said, recalling a recent conversation. 'I'll razz her again when I see her.'
Gillibrand said Cooper would be 'a formidable candidate' but signaled that her hopes to unseat Tillis don't solely rest on him. Similarly, Gillibrand said Maine Gov. Janet Mills would be a 'very strong candidate,' but not the only viable one, against Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
'There's a bunch of candidates that could run in Maine, and I believe we will have a very strong candidate in Maine. And I would just suggest that Senator Collins' numbers are as weak as they've ever been,' Gillibrand said.
Some polls have shown Collins with tough approval ratings or facing a steep path to re-election next year; Collins faced similar challenges in 2020 and won handily. A Pan Atlantic Research poll released this week showed Mills with +8 favorability and Collins at +4. A Collins aide said Gillibrand is 'flat-out wrong' about the Republican's prospects.
In order to put Democrats back in charge, Gillibrand also must protect all of her Democratic-held seats — including in Michigan and Georgia — and win at least two more Senate seats in solidly red states.
Among the states Democrats are discussing: Iowa, Alaska, Kansas, Ohio, Texas and South Carolina, where they just scored a recruit against Sen. Lindsey Graham. Two Democrats are already running against Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, whose 'we are all going to die' rebuttal to critiques of Medicaid cuts piqued Democratic interest.
New York's two Senate Democratic leaders see a recruiting upside to what Schumer called 'negativity toward Trump and the negativity towards reconciliation.'
'It's a bigger map that people would expect. We are looking at all states; no state is off the list,' Gillibrand said. 'I hope we can have candidates, certainly by January of next year. It's early.'
Gillibrand succeeds Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who chaired the DSCC for four straight years. She's revisiting Peters' hands-off stance in contested primaries, saying she 'will support the candidates that we think are the most formidable and most exciting.'
'I'm not going to rule anything out,' Gillibrand said of her strategy.
Well, except for one thing. She's taking presidential aspirations off the table for now: 'I'm ruling that out. Not ever in my lifetime, but definitely this cycle. I'm all in for DS.'
NRSC spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez said the GOP is not 'taking any races for granted' and will combat Democrats' attacks on its agenda by highlighting their opposition to the tax bill, Trump's agenda, 'and forcing ridiculous mandates like men in women's sports.'
Perhaps the most interesting dynamic in Gillibrand's political life right now, though, is how much praise she gets from Republicans for compartmentalizing it as she works on pro-crypto legislation.
One of her GOP partners in that effort, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said her cross-aisle ally has remained 'rock solid' even while taking on one of the most partisan jobs in Washington.
'She is acting in the best interests of the state of New York, and I'm acting in the best interests of the state of Wyoming. So our interests are aligned on this issue,' Lummis said. 'Now, on a lot of other issues she's perfectly aligned with the Democratic Party.'
Gillibrand sees it as part of her job to educate her party about digital assets that many progressives criticize as economically risky.
'Not many senators have that background to understand why this regulation is so important. so I've tried to make the case to my colleagues. 19 [Democrats] voted with us. We may have a few more,' she said.
I've covered Sen. Gillibrand for a long time. I see her taking over the DSCC, despite its draining nature and difficulty, partly because she wants to be on the leading edge of party politics.
In Schumer's words: 'She was very eager to do the job, and that was one of the selling points.'
She's relentless in her drive on everything from combatting military sexual assault to crypto to paid family leave. She hasn't won every battle she's picked, but that tenacity easily translates to fundraising and candidate recruitment.
Tough decisions are still to come, and Democratic activists will closely scrutinize how she handles contested primaries and spending decisions as the midterms approach.
She seems ready for it. telling me: 'I love this job … I fundamentally love politics.' That's not a sentiment you hear every day, even from sitting lawmakers.
Republicans have an early edge on the Senate map, according to the Cook Political report and Crystal Ball.
Still, Schumer Semafor in April that he'll be majority leader in 2027.