Kirsten Gillibrand

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Kirsten Gillibrand

Representative-elect from New York's 20th district
Term of office: term begins 2007
Political party:	Democratic
Succeeding:	John E. Sweeney
Religion:	Roman Catholic
Born:	December 9, 1966 Lima, Ohio
Spouse:	Jonathan Gillibrand

Kirsten Rutnik Gillibrand (born December 9, 1966) is a Democratic politician, elected on November 7, 2006, to represent New York's 20th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. She is the first Democrat to represent the district since 1978 and the first woman to represent the district.

1 Early years
2 Career
3 Personal
4 2006 campaign for the U.S. House
5 External links

[edit] Early years

A native of Albany, Kirsten Gillibrand is the daughter of lobbyist Doug Rutnick[1]. She graduated in 1984 from Emma Willard School in Troy, New York, the first all women's high school in the United States. A magna cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College in 1988, Gillibrand went on to receive her law degree from Los Angeles Law School at the University of California in 1991 and served as a law clerk on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

[edit] Career

During the Clinton Administration, Gillibrand served as Special Counsel to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Andrew Cuomo. She worked on HUD's Labor Initiative and its New Markets Initiative, on strengthening Davis-Bacon Act enforcement and on drafting new markets legislation for public and private investment in building infrastructure in lower income areas.

As a partner at the well-known law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner, Gillibrand worked on a wide range of legal and policy-related issues. She represented many pro-bono cases, including abused women and their children, and tenants seeking safe housing after lead paint and unsafe conditions were found in their homes.

She is the Chair of the Women's Leadership Forum Network and is on the Boards of the Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee and the Commission on Greenway Heritage Conservancy for the Hudson River Valley. She also serves on the Advisory Board for the Brennan Center for Justice.

In addition, she is a strong advocate of 2nd Amendment rights, and works to protect "responsible" gun owners, coming as she does from a family of "hunters and fishers."

[edit] Personal

Gillibrand lives in Hudson, New York with her husband, Jonathan and their son, Theodore, born in 2004.

[edit] 2006 campaign for the U.S. House

Main article: New York 20th congressional district election, 2006

Gillibrand ran in New York's 20th Congressional District against four-term Republican incumbent John E. Sweeney. The rural and suburban district was among the more Republican in the Northeast. Sweeney had a politically conservative/libertarian stance, and had not faced a serious challenge for election in any of his previous House races.

Gillibrand eventually won the election by a 6% majority over Sweeney. During the race, Sweeney's private life came under increasing criticism, especially after he refused to reveal details of a reported domestic violence incident. Gillibrand's was the 15th seat won on election day 2006, officially shifting majority power of the House of Representatives to the Democrats.