CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. -- Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand stands and listens quietly. She's waiting to cut the ribbon on the new Omi International Arts Center in rural Columbia County. It's part of the job. The job she's been away from in her sprawling 21st District since giving birth to her second son, Harry, a month ago.
"We flew home from D.C. on Friday. And my son Theodore could not be more excited, because he likes being home more than being in D.C.," said Gillibrand.
Gillibrand is up for reelection and while the pain of campaigning will never be comparable to child birth, donors have delivered quite a bit of cash to her campaign. Her last FEC filings have her with $2.4 million on hand and that’s with her not out kissing other people's babies.
"No not, yet. There's a lot of legislative work that is yet to be done. We are working on middle class tax cuts, we have to do a very strong tax cut package," said Gillibrand.
Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand is back in her district after the birth of her second son Harry and as Curtis Schick reports, even with her seat up for grabs this November, she isn't hitting the campaign trail just yet.
But three Republicans are interested in her job. Sandy Treadwell has the support of all the GOP county committees in the district. But fellow Republican Michael Rocque has picked up support of a few Conservative Committees around the Capital Region. John Wallace rounds out the three, but his campaign is struggling to find funding. Treadwell is already running ads.
Election day is over four months away and while she hasn't hit the trail just yet, Gillibrand says she hopes when people go to the polls this fall, they will look she has brought back to the district and give her a second term.
"They will assess me. Has Kirsten Gillibrand provided open honest government, has she provided constituent services, has she represented us in Washington?" said Gillibrand.