U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on Sunday held the first rally of her 2020 White House campaign, and told the crowd outside Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York City that its namesake is a “coward.”
“We are here to reject the politics of fear and hate,” said Gillibrand, who was recently elected to her second term. “We are here to embrace our shared humanity and rise above our differences.”
“The people of this country deserve a president who is worthy of your bravery,” she added. “Your bravery inspires me every day and that is why I’m running for President of the United States.”
To underscore the point, New York’s junior Senator made the declaration from a stage erected on Central Park West in front of one of the president’s signature New York City properties — the gold-and-brass-plated Trump International Hotel and Tower that sits on the fabled boulevard.
“President Trump is tearing apart the moral fabric of our country,” blistered Gillibrand. “He demonizes the vulnerable and he punches down.
“He does this because he wants you to believe he’s strong. He is not,” she added. “Our president is a coward.”
The state’s junior Senator announced in January she would explore a presidential bid and has spent the last two months touring the key early states in the battle for the Democratic nomination, including making trips to Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.
Gillibrand’s announcement comes even as she has received a cool reception as she dipped her toe in the early presidential waters.
Not a single Iowa voter picked Gillibrand as their first choice in a recent poll conducted by The Des Moines Register, CNN and Mediacom.
Back home, the reception hasn’t been much better. Just 29 percent of New York voters gave Gillibrand a favorable rating in a Quinnipiac poll released last week, a surprisingly mediocre performance considering she rolled to reelection just four months ago.
Gillibrand joins a crowded field of two dozen Democrats who are either eyeing White House runs or have declared their candidacy, which remains heavily in flux.
The party’s 2016 runner-up, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, has already jumped into the race and former Vice President Joe Biden is widely expected to throw his hat in the ring as well.
Former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rouke, meanwhile, has managed to raise more than $6 million in 24 hours after announced his campaign.
Two of the party’s rising stars in the Senate are running, too: California U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris and New Jersey Sen. Corey Booker
Plus, self-described policy wonk, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, is in the race. And even South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg — a veteran and Rhodes Scholar — is getting ink as a possible dark horse.
And the field may soon grow even more crowded.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has eyed the White House contest for more than a month in the face of tough headlines in city papers and mediocre poll numbers from New York voters, though he insists he has made no decision yet.
Hizzoner, who is term-limited, traveled to Washington D.C. this weekend and will participate in a forum as part of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee Sunday afternoon and address the gathering on Monday.
That trip comes on the heels of his forays to New Hampshire, South Carolina and Iowa, where he road-tested possible rationales for a presidential bid before often tiny, but friendly audiences.