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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says he will apply lessons learned from the 2024 election and other recent cycles as he works to regain the Senate majority for Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections.
“If we’ve learned anything in the last few cycles, if you’re not in the field early, talk to voters about what they’re concerned about, what issues are on their kitchen table, and then come up with legislative solutions that help them. . . , they won’t feel that you have their backs and, therefore, it’s about a relationship with your voters,” the new president of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee he told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.
Gillibrand, the New York senator who was up for re-election in November, was nominated Monday by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a fellow New Yorker, to lead the Senate Democrats’ campaign committee in the 2026 cycle.
“Electing more Democrats to the Senate in 2026 is the most important thing we can do to limit the damage from Donald Trump and congressional Republicans and do more for working families,” Schumer argued in a statement. “I have worked side-by-side with Kirsten Gillibrand for nearly two decades and know she will be an outstanding chair of the DSCC. With her hard work, tenacity and discipline, Senator Gillibrand is the right person to lead our campaign to victory in 2026.”
MEET THE REPUBLICAN SENATOR CHARGED WITH DEFENDING THE GOP SENATE MAJORITY IN 2026
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., leaves the Senate Democrats luncheon in the Capitol’s Mansfield Room on Wednesday, March 15, 2023. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Gillibrand pledged in a statement to “work as hard as possible to support our Democratic incumbents, recruit the strongest possible candidates and make sure they have all the resources they need to win. I am confident that we will protect our Democratic seats, raise strong challenges in our battlefield careers, and we’re looking to expand our efforts into some unexpected states.”
The senator, as she looked ahead to her new mission of recovering the Senate majority or at the very least, chip away at the GOP’s recently won 53-47 control of the House, he noted in his interview with Fox News Digital about his own re-election and his efforts to help House Democrats flip controlled seats by Republicans during the 2024 cycle.
“I made sure that for my career and for the New York House races, our candidates were out in the community talking to voters two years before the election, telling them what they care about. “People were worried about crime. They were worried about immigration. They were worried about the economy and the cost of housing,” he said.
GILLIBRAND DEFENDS DEMOCRATS SHOULD HAVE PUT IMMIGRATION ON THE TABLE TWO YEARS AGO
Gillibrand stressed that “we really did the outreach and engagement that you really need to do in this day and age to make sure that you’re talking about the things that voters want you to work on.”
Also, he said Democrats can learn President-elect Donald Trump White House victory in 2024.
“President-elect Trump is a formidable candidate. He showed in this last election that he was able to win over voters in states across this country, not just red states,” Gillibrand noted. “I think it’s important to learn the lessons of the last cycle.”
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP/Evan Vucci)
Senate Democrats faced an extremely difficult map in the 2024 cycle as they lost control of the majority. An early reading of the 2026 map shows they will continue to play defense in some states, but it also offers opportunities to go on the offensive.
Among them is the battleground state of Southeastern North Carolina.
“There are a number of places where Democrats can win if they have the right candidate in the community early enough talking about the issues that voters care about. A state like North Carolina could be a state where we came very close last time Gillibrand said. .
There is much speculation that former Gov. Roy Cooper, who just finished running the state for two terms, may make a Senate bid against Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.
“There are some really remarkably good candidates in North Carolina, considering the former governor would be one of them. That’s the kind of state I’ll be looking at across the country, states where Democrats have won in the past , where they could win again if they have a candidate who really resonates and does the hard work of engaging voters early,” Gillibrand said.
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Another potential opportunity for Gillibrand may be blue-leaning Maine, where moderate Republican Susan Collins is running for re-election in 2026.
“Susan is pretty hard to beat,” Gillibrand acknowledged. But he added that “if we get a great candidate there, this is a race where we will be competitive.”
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The 2026 map also gives Republicans opportunities to flip Democratic-held seats.
In the swing state of New Hampshire, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who serves as the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is running for re-election.
Sen. Gary Peters, who led the DSCC in the 2022 and 2024 cycles, is running for re-election in the battleground state of Michigan. So is first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff in the swing state of Georgia.
“The great thing about Jean Shaheen is that she’s out in her community every week, talking to people about the things she’s working on, on their behalf. She’s common sense, she’s bipartisan, and so I’m optimistic that we’ll keep the your seat.” Gillibrand said. “I’m also optimistic about making sure Gary Peters takes his seat in Michigan. Again, he’s extremely bipartisan. He’s constantly working on behalf of the voters of Michigan to make sure they understand that he’s fighting for them. The same is true, I . I would say for Jon Ossoff he started working as a new senator last term, and I think that really resonates with Georgia voters.”
