New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand won reelection to her third full term in office just over two weeks ago, but she’s not letting any grass grow under her feet. Instead, the state’s junior senator has expressed an interest in chairing the Senate Democratic Campaign arm, and she’s urging students to apply for a Cyber Service Academy scholarship program which provides full college tuition.
Gillibrand, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, spoke with Capital Tonight about the president-elect’s tentative nomination of Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense – a nomination that she has serious concerns about, although she stated she is looking forward to meeting with each and every one of the cabinet nominees.
“I think Mr. Hegseth has some serious challenges in his record,” Gillibrand stated. “He doesn’t believe women should serve in combat. Women have been successfully serving in combat for a very long time and have made a difference. They are as lethal as they need to be.”
Gillibrand pointed to the unique success that women have had in the war on terror; specifically, being able to speak with fellow women in places like Afghanistan where they helped locate caches of weapons.
“They could get intel in the way that men couldn’t,” she explained.
Gillibrand is also unsure of Hegseth’s ability to manage a sprawling bureaucracy that includes 2 million people, both military and civilian.
“It’s a big job and I don’t think he’s managed anything more than a handful of people,” she said.
When asked about Gov. Kathy Hochul’s coming reelection campaign in 2026, Gillibrand was strongly supportive of the incumbent.
“I think she’s done an excellent job. She comes from a red and purple part of the state. Her first congressional district was heavily Republican, so she knows how to talk to voters no matter where she lives in the state.”
Hochul worked hand-in-glove with Gillibrand and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to successfully flip three Republican U.S. House seats in the recent election via a two-year long strategy she described as involving 20,000 volunteers, 5 million phone calls and 1.3 million door knocks.
“If the governor reaches out and starts building this grassroots organizing now, then she will win two years from now,” Gillibrand predicts.
That strategy did not help to flip New York's 17th Congressional District, where Democrat Mondaire Jones lost to incumbent Rep. Mike Lawler, a moderate Republican who has expressed an interested in running against Hochul.
Gillibrand has spoken with Lawler and plans to work across party lines to “do good things for New York,” including raising the cap on the SALT deduction.
“But I think Governor Hochul is the best candidate to be governor, and I will support her every step of the way,” Gillibrand said.