Portal:Hudson Valley/Selected biography/6

Kirsten Gillibrand (/ˈkɜːrstən ˈdʒɪlɪˌbrænd/; born December 9, 1966) is the junior United States Senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party. On January 23, 2009, Gillibrand was appointed by Governor David Paterson to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton, who assumed the office of United States Secretary of State in the Obama administration. She is the second woman to serve as a U.S. Senator from New York.

Previously, she was elected twice to the United States House of Representatives, representing New York's 20th congressional district from January 3, 2007, to January 26, 2009. She was the first woman to serve as a representative of the district and the first Democrat to represent the district since Edward W. Pattison left office in 1979. As a member of the House, Gillibrand was considered to be a centrist Democrat, appealing to some Republican and conservative Democratic voters in upstate New York.in Westchester County; and Pawling in Duchess County.