PRESIDENTIAL BID
Gillibrand announces official launch to campaign in Brunswick
BRUNSWICK, N.Y. >> The Country View Diner on Hoosick Road was buzzing with national attention Wednesday morning as Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was in her hometown to officially launch her 2020 exploratory committee for president of the United States.
The 52-year-old Democrat made her initial announcement Tuesday night on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Gillibrand has been a Senator from New York since 2009 after previously serving in Congress starting in 2007. She was born in Albany and graduated from Emma Willard in Troy before enrolling at Dartmouth College and then attended UCLA School of Law.
Her home is in Troy, where she will headquarter her campaign in the Frear Building downtown.
“I’m going to run for president of the United States, because as a young mom, I will fight for your children as hard as I would fight for my own,” Gillibrand said as she was standing outside of the diner with her husband, Jonathan, their two sons, 15-year-old Theo, and 10-year-old Henry and her mother, Polly.
Gillibrand went on to highlight her thoughts on health care and various other topics such as education.
“I believe that health care should be a right and not a privilege,” said Gillibrand. “I believe we should have better public schools because it shouldn’t matter what block you grew up on. I believe we need to start rewarding work in the country
“I’m going to run for president of the United States, because as a young mom, I will fight for your children as hard as I would fight for my own.” — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York
again because anybody who wants to work hard should be able to get any training they need to earn their way into the middle class and to be able to have the American dream.”
“I know that I have the compassion and the courage and the fearless determination that is necessary to get this done,” she added.
Gillibrand said she believes that people in America “want someone who will fight for them,” and that she can provide that the way she said she has for New Yorkers.
“I believe that what people want in [New York] and around the country is someone who will fight for them and someone who not only understands what their problems actually are, but will then do what it takes to solve that problem,” said Gillibrand. “You have to be willing to have the courage and the compassion and the fearless determination to take on those battles and [people] just need to know that you understand them.
“I will continue to fight for New Yorkers, as I’ve always done, but I believe the urgency of this moment now is we have to take on President [Donald] Trump. I believe he is literally ripping apart the moral fabric of this country.”
Gillibrand was re-elected to her Senate seat this past November and she then had said she would serve her full six-year term in the Senate.
“As I said then, I was solely focused on winning our midterms, creating transparency and accountability over this White House, to have some level of oversight and to continue to serve New Yorkers and I will continue to do that, but this sense of urgency has only grown in me and I wanted to talk to my family [because] they will be making sacrifices too,” she said.
When asked why she decided to put her campaign headquarters in Troy, Gillibrand answered: “Because Troy is awesome!”
“I want to be here because this is where I’m from, it’s my story, this is who I am,” she added.
After talking to members of the media outside of the diner, Gillibrand went inside and talked with several supporters, including Troy Mayor Patrick Madden.
“I think it’s thrilling,” said Madden, who is also a Democrat. “I’ve always admired her work, both in the House and in the Senate. I think she’s a remarkably intelligent person and compassionate. I’m thrilled that she has announced, and I’m thrilled that she’s making Troy the center of her world for the time being.”