NEW YORK (CNN) – Former New York Gov. George Pataki wouldn't say Monday if he is interested in challenging Kirsten Gillibrand for her U.S. Senate seat next year - but didn't rule it out, either.
Asked if he's considering a bid, a coy Pataki wouldn't go any further than: "People have talked to me about a lot of different things."
Pataki's comments came as he was giving the Republican National Committee's response Monday to President Barack Obama's economic speech at Hudson Community College in Troy, New York.
A recent Marist College poll of New York State voters suggests that Pataki leads Gillibrand 48 percent to 44 percent in a hypothetical matchup in next year's Senate race. Pataki's lead in the survey is within the poll's sampling error.
(CNN) – Peter King made it official Monday.
The Republican congressman from New York State announced that he won't take on Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand next year when the appointed senator runs for the final two years of Hillary Clinton's term.
After Clinton announced that she would step down from her seat to become secretary of state, King - the last remanning GOP congressman from Long Island, a former Republican bastion - hinted that he might make a bid for statewide office. But in recent months, most political observers wrote off any actual run by King.
King says it came down to money.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Calling her a "rising star in the Democratic caucus," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Friday that he's backing Kirsten Gillibrand's bid to retain her Senate seat in 2010.
“I am endorsing Senator Gillibrand’s campaign because she is a rising star in our caucus,” Reid said in a statement. “As a working mother with two young children, Kirsten brings unique perspective to the challenging issues we are debating in Congress. In just six month, Kirsten has introduced a number of new and innovative legislative approaches to the problems many families face.”
Reid picked Gillibrand over Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York lawmaker who plans to challenge the sitting senator in next year's Democratic primary. Gillibrand, a former congresswoman, was appointed to the Senate in January to succeed Hillary Clinton.
(CNN) - Former President Bill Clinton will attend a fundraiser for a congresswoman from New York City who's challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in next year's Democratic primary.
The fundraiser is for Rep. Carolyn Maloney. Her campaign's chief strategist, Joe Trippi, tells CNN that Maloney has made her decision to run against Gillibrand and will soon formally announce her Senate bid.
Gillibrand, a former congresswoman from upstate New York, was named by Gov. David Paterson in January to succeed Hillary Clinton.
The White House has been hoping to prevent a primary fight next year in New York by trying to clear the field for Gillibrand. Steve Israel, another congressman from New York who was considering a run against Gillibrand, decided against such a bid after lobbying by the White House.
Former President Clinton has not made an endorsement in the race, but his appearance at a Maloney fundraiser will raise some eyebrows. Clinton also attended a fundraiser for Gillibrand earlier this year.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - At 8:30 a.m., Kirsten Gillibrand looks like any other working mom in a minivan dropping off her baby boy at day care and her other son at school.
But one hour later, she is gaveling the United States Senate into session.
Sen. Gillibrand, D-New York, is part of a different kind of "change" in Washington - a baby boom among female lawmakers.
She had her son Henry 11 months ago, when she was serving in the House of Representatives.
"I think it makes me and the other women better legislators, because we really understand some of the struggles that other moms and other families have," Gillibrand said.
Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-South Dakota, had her first baby, Zachary, 5 months ago.
Even though she's a member of Congress, she has to wait her turn on a waiting list with other Capitol Hill employees at the congressional day care center, which is at capacity. Until he can get in, Henry usually spends his days with a nanny or family.
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(CNN) - New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand issued a strong endorsement Thursday of the legalization of same-sex marriage in her state.
"New York and the nation are ready to start a new chapter. The time has come for full marriage equality," she said in an issued statement. "I commend the Governor for his leadership on this important issue. If Iowa can do it, so can we."
Her comments come the same day Gov. David Paterson announced plans to introduce legislation seeking to add New York to the growing list of states where same-sex couples can legally get married.
Gillibrand did not endorse same-sex marriage when she was a congresswoman from New York's 20th District. Earlier this year, she indicated that she would back it as a senator.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, New York's other senator, has also declared his support for same-sex marriage, after initially opposing the idea.
(CNN) - New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand accused Republicans of stooping to a "new low" Wednesday amid reports GOP lawyers have challenged her ballot in the election to name her successor in the state's 20th congressional district.
"Their latest move to challenge my ballot is part of a much larger attempt to disenfranchise legal Democratic voters and delay Scott Murphy's inevitable victory in the 20th," she said in a op-ed on the Huffington Post.
The Albany Times Union first reported on Tuesday lawyers for Republican Jim Tedisco objected to Gillibrand's absentee ballot because the senator was in the district on Election Day.
Thousands of absentee ballots remain to be counted in the special election called to fill the congressional seat vacated by Gillibrand when she was appointed to the Senate. As of Tuesday, Tedisco trails by just under 50 votes.
A spokeswoman for Gillibrand said the senator requested an absentee ballot because she did not expect to be able to vote at her polling location because Senate votes were scheduled that day.
"The Republican's challenge is frivolous and without merit," said Gillibrand spokeswoman Bethany Lesser in a statement to CNN.
Lesser also noted New York state law allows a voter to request an absentee ballot if he or she has an expectation to be absent on Election Day. State law further says a voter must intend to be outside of their home county on election day, not the congressional district as a whole. Though Gillibrand was in the 20th congressional district on the evening of Election Day, she did not enter her home county, Lesser said.
Lawyers for Tedisco have not returned CNN's request for comment.
(CNN) - As the race in New York’s 20th congressional district continues to tighten, the Republican National Committee is sending another $100,000 to the state party in New York - the second time in less than a week it’s spent that sum on the special election contest there.
The move comes a day after GOP New York assemblyman Jim Tedisco, running for Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s former congressional seat, told reporters he would have voted against the stimulus bill.
Questions over Tedisco's position - he had earlier suggested he would have supported a modified version of the legislation - had dogged the candidate for days.
Last Thursday, the RNC announced the transfer of $100,000 to the New York State Republican Committee, as fresh numbers showed a vanishing advantage for Tedisco in the March 31 special election.
A Siena poll released the same day suggested his lead over Democratic venture capitalist Scott Murphy had plummeted by two-thirds over the past two weeks, to just 4 points, despite the district's traditionally Republican bent.
(CNN) – Former President Bill Clinton will headline a fundraiser for his wife’s Senate successor in New York City next month, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announced Monday.
“Both Secretary of State Clinton and President Clinton embody the type of leadership I hope to bring to the State of New York,” said Gillibrand, in a message to supporters. “[A]nd President Clinton's willingness to show his early support for my candidacy could not mean more to me.”
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of Long Island has been mentioned as a possible challenger to Gillibrand in a 2010 Democratic primary race. Rep. Peter King, a Republican from Nassau County, may seek to represent the GOP in the general election contest.
(CNN) - Newly-minted New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand remains a mystery to millions of her constituents and is facing a possibly titanic 2010 Democratic primary fight, according a new survey.
Gillibrand, a little-known upstate congresswoman before being tapped to fill Hillary Clinton's Senate seat in January, trails potential primary challenger Rep. Carolyn McCarthy by 10 points, 34 to 24 percent, in the Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday.
A plurality of state Democrats - 39 percent - refused to choose either potential candidate, a partial reflection of the fact that McCarthy also remains a question mark to most New Yorkers. Roughly two-thirds of New York voters have not heard enough to register an opinion of Gillibrand or McCarthy.
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