Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said Friday that she is committing to raise and invest “at least $1 million” to elect female candidates in the 2020 election cycle.
“I’m proud that we put women front and center in my campaign,” tweeted Gillibrand, who exited the presidential race on Wednesday. “And while this chapter is over, there’s still work to be done to bring more women to the decision-making table.”
Gillibrand ended her White House bid hours before the deadline to qualify for September’s third round of presidential primary debates, for which she had not yet met the criteria. The New York senator said Friday that while she is no longer campaigning for president, she’s still “as determined as ever to elect women up and down the ballot.”{mosads}
“I’ve said it for months, and I’ll say it again today: Women are on fire in America,” she tweeted. “We’re speaking up, marching, running for office, and winning in historic numbers. And this is just the beginning.”
Gillibrand made women’s rights a cornerstone of her presidential campaign, with her campaign website’s front page reading, “In the face of a president who demeans women and threatens their rights, Kirsten’s fearless advocacy for women is the antidote. Women are half of this country — and they deserve a president who values and fights for them.”
In 2019, women hold nearly 24 percent of seats in Congress — 25 percent of Senate seats and about 23 percent of House seats, according to Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics.
Five other women are still in the running in the Democratic presidential primary: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and author Marianne Williamson.