Gillibrand adds her name to long list of presidential candidates
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York announced her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination Sunday, casting herself as the party’s strongest champion of reversing President Trump’s agenda.
Gillibrand, who started an exploratory committee in January, has been campaigning for months. But she used a video announcement online to draw new attention as rivals Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris dominate coverage of the crowded race with former Vice President Joe Biden, another likely candidate. In all, more than a dozen Democrats are running.
The video highlighted Trump’s proposed ban on Muslim travel to the U.S., his administration’s separation of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border and the 2017 march of neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Va., that led to violence.
Playing off the “home of the brave” line of the national anthem, Gillibrand says: “Brave doesn’t spread hate, cloud truth, build a wall — that’s what fear does.”
She called for universal health care, paid family leave for all, a stop to gun violence and passage of liberal lawmakers’ “Green New Deal” proposal to end the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels.
Gillibrand’s announcement came less than a week after her image as a champion of the #MeToo movement was shaken by a Politico report of alleged sexual harassment in her Senate office.
A former Gillibrand aide resigned after accusing her office in a letter last August of mishandling her complaint of harassment by Abbas Malik, a special assistant to the senator, Politico reported. Gillibrand declined to fire Malik at the time, but dismissed him this month after Politico asked about the matter.
Gillibrand, 52, said the complaint “was taken very seriously from the beginning.”
“I...