On the ballot this year but remarkably under the radar for a race for a United States Senate seat, Kirsten Gillibrand is running for her third full term in New York.
In this campaign the top issues are similar to those in races across the country: the economy, affordability, and immigration.
These have been highlighted by Ms. Gillibrand’s Republican opponent, Mike Sapraicone, a retired New York City police detective. Since retiring he has been running a private security company used by firms based in New York City.
Mr. Sapraicone has made public safety a cornerstone of his run for the Senate, putting it at the top of the “Issues” page on his campaign website. One of his goals is to “require liberal New York State politicians to repeal the cashless bail law that is responsible for releasing dangerous criminals back onto our streets.” (Stephen Kiely, a Republican running for Fred W. Thiele Jr.’s State Assembly seat, has also pushed this idea.)
As for Ms. Gillibrand, she puts health care at the top of her priorities. Among her accomplishments, she cites her work “to lower prescription drug prices, protect access to reproductive health care, and strengthen and expand our health care work force.” Her website also touts legislation specific to New Yorkers, including the “9/11 health bill, which created the federal World Trade Center Health Program.”
The two candidates faced off in a debate on Oct. 23 hosted by Spectrum News at the State University at Albany, clashing over topics including immigration. Ms. Gillibrand mentioned the squashing earlier this year of a bipartisan immigration bill “which should have been supported, but President Trump derailed it for political purposes,” adding, “He said, ‘Don’t vote for this bill, I want it to be a campaign issue.’ ”
Mr. Sapraicone sidestepped the topic of Mr. Trump and instead attacked Senate Democrats. “The Democrats have the majority in the Senate. You’ve been a senator for 15 years,” he said, “why were you not able to even get that bill on the floor of the Senate so it would’ve passed in the Senate and it would’ve went to the House? How does that fail?”
Ms. Gillibrand had a quick response: “Because Donald Trump told the House of Representatives do not vote for this bill.”
As of this reporting, 11 days from Election Day, the polling aggregate on the website FiveThirtyEight gives Ms. Gillibrand a 22-point lead.
A 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful, Ms. Gillibrand has been a senator since 2009, serving as chairwoman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities. She also serves on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the Senate Agriculture Committee, and the Senate Committee on Aging.
She was appointed by then-Gov. David Paterson, filling the seat left by Hillary Clinton when she became secretary of state in the Obama administration. Ms. Gillibrand had served in the House of Representatives since 2007.
