Kirsten Gillibrand moved to her upstate New York district specifically to run for Congress

(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

published 8 July 2019

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) didn't just fall into politics.

The 2020 Democrat wasn't necessarily raised in a political family, though she frequently tells campaign stops about her grandmother's influential time as a secretary for the New York state legislature. Yet Gillibrand's career rise was anything but accidental, seeing as she and her husband did "intentionally buy a house" in a congressional district Gillibrand thought she could win, The Washington Post Magazine reports.

The story of Gillibrand's first political post is ingrained in her 2020 run. As an example of her dedication to women's rights, she tells audiences that she grew up knowing "you could not get elected in Albany without the blessing of my grandmother and her lady friends,” the Post recounts. Inspired by her grandmother and then-Sen. Hillary Clinton, Gillibrand then quit her job as a corporate lawyer and started working for Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). And then, "she and her handsome British venture capitalist husband" bought a house in the rural New York district even though she was told it held “more cows than Democrats," the Post continues.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox