Gillibrand plays up motherhood in race
Raising kids, running no longer a negative
WASHINGTON — Kirsten Gillibrand had a flurry of pots on the stove and steak, haddock, peas, steamed vegetables and rice on the menu.
She had a cable news appearance coming up in a few hours, but for now, her 10-year-old son entertained the family goldendoodle, Maple, a few feet away.
The New York senator was game to talk about motherhood, leadership, her policies and her pursuit of the nation’s highest office, she told a reporter. But first she needed to save dinner.
“I need to focus, because I’m about to burn the fish,” she said. “I’ve reached my point of capacity.”
As she cranks up her presidential campaign, Gillibrand isn’t trying to hide her working-mom juggle — she’s running on it.
She’s floated the idea of making an RV trip through Iowa this summer, to be able to prepare meals for her family while she travels to meet supporters. During her first week as a candidate, she baked cookies with a voter, dismissing any complexity in the symbolism. And on a recent Tuesday evening, she even invited a reporter into her Capitol Hill home for dinner with her family.
It’s a far cry from the not-so-distant past, where being a mother of young children was viewed as much as a complication as an asset in politics.
“There was a time when a mom with young children absolutely couldn’t run for an executive office. People wondered who would come first, the kids or us,” said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster. “But things have really changed.”
Gillibrand isn’t the only Democratic candidate whose campaign has reflected this shift in attitude. In her campaign launch speech, Elizabeth Warren talked about potty-training her now-grown daughter. Kamala Harris wrote in her recent memoir that her step-children affectionately refer to her as “Momala.”
But none in the group is going as far as Gillibrand to highlight her role as caregiver.
The strategy is a clear appeal to young, working women with families, a coveted and energized part of the Democratic coalition.
Women voters helped drive victories that led Democrats to reclaim control of the House last year, responding to candidates who talked openly about daily struggles and parenthood.