Gillibrand ends her presidential campaign

WASHINGTON >> U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand officially ended her presidential campaign on Wednesday.

The Troy native tweeted around 5:40 p.m. Wednesday saying, “Today, I am ending my campaign for president. I am so proud of this team and all we’ve accomplished. But I think it’s important know how you can best serve.

“To our supports: Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Now, let’s go beat Donald Trump and win back the Senate.”

Gillibrand topped an incumbent Republican in a conservative part of upstate New York to get to the U.S. House in 2007, and was appointed to the Senate two years later, filling the seat vacated by Hillary Clinton, who was tapped to be U.S. secretary of state.

Gillibrand later easily retained the seat during a 2010 special election, as well as in 2012 and 2018.

Vocal in the Senate on curbing sexual harassment and promoting equal pay for women and family leave, Gillibrand made those and her staunch defense of abortion rights the core of her presidential bid.

She stood out in the crowded field by becoming the first Democratic presidential hopeful to declare that she’d only appoint judges to the Supreme Court who consider the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide settled law, though most of her competitors quickly followed suit.

After forming an exploratory committee in January and formally entering the race by calling President Donald Trump a “coward” in a March speech delivered near the New York City skyscraper bearing his name, Gillibrand began with $10.5-plus million left over from her 2018 Senate campaign in her presidential campaign account.

That seemed like more than enough resources for the long haul. But Gillibrand was the first Senate Democrat in December 2017 to call for Minnesota Sen. Al Franken’s resignation amid numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, and she has said for months that that alienated donors and some voters in his neighboring, make-or-break Iowa.

Gillibrand’s announcement comes as she was one of several struggling Democratic presidential candidates braced for bad news Wednesday with the window to qualify for the next debate set to close at midnight, a near impossible deadline for them to make and one that is likely to spell doom for their campaigns.

The 52-year-old Gillibrand, billionaire climate change activist Tom Steyer, Montana Gov. Steve CAMPAIGN >> PAGE 8