Gillibrand Works To Elect More Women

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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) packed 70 of her top donors into a conference room overlooking Times Square this week and urged them to give more money and spread the word.

But not for her reelection — she’s got millions in her campaign chest and is leading her Republican opponent in the polls by a 2 to 1 margin. Gillibrand instead raised money for three Democratic women who have a good shot at unseating House Republicans.

As the crowd munched on salmon sandwiches and mixed greens, Gillibrand told them that the women “come from very red states and very red districts, but these are the kinds of seats that we can actually win to find that common ground, bring together and move this country forward.”

There are just 17 women serving in the Senate and 75 in the House, a slight drop from earlier years. Gillibrand told her donors that she wants more women in the House and Senate, because “if we had 50 percent of women in Congress, we would not be debating contraception. We would be debating the economy, small business, jobs, national security — everything but.”

With that, the room of mostly middle-aged and older women cheered, and some even pounded the conference table in approval.

The fundraiser Monday at the New York offices of the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine raised more than $100,000 to be split between Christie Vilsack, the former Iowa first lady running against Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa); Tammy Duckworth, a veteran of the Iraq war hoping to defeat Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) in the Chicago suburbs; and Val Demings, a former Orlando police chief challenging Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.).

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