Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says she will apply the lessons learned from the 2024 elections and other recent cycles as she works to win back the Senate majority for the Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections.
“If we’ve learned anything in the last few cycles, if you’re not in the field early, talking to voters about what they’re worried about, what’s their kitchen table issues, and then coming up with legislative solutions to help them, they’re not going to feel that you have their back. And so it’s about a relationship with your voters,” the new chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.
Gillibrand, the longtime senator from New York who was re-elected in November, was named on Monday by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a fellow New Yorker, to steer 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 of 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 I know she will be an outstanding DSCC Chair. With her hard work, tenacity, and discipline, Sen. Gillibrand is the right person to lead our campaign to victory in 2026.”
MEET THE REPUBLICAN SENATOR TASKED WITH DEFENDING THE GOP’S SENATE MAJORITY IN 2026
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., leaves the Senate Democrats’ lunch in the Mansfield Room in the Capitol on Wednesday, March 15, 2023. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Gillibrand pledged in a statement to “work my hardest to support our Democratic incumbents, recruit the strongest possible candidates, and ensure they have every resource needed to win. I am confident that we will protect our Democratic seats, mount strong challenges in our battleground races, and look to expand our efforts into some unexpected states.”
The senator, as she looked ahead to her new mission to win back the Senate majority or at the least, cut into the GOP’s newly won 53-47 control of the chamber, pointed in her Fox News Digital interview to her own re-election and her efforts to help House Democrats flip Republican-controlled seats in the 2024 cycle.
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There is plenty of speculation that former Gov. Roy Cooper, who just finished steering the state for two terms, may make a bid for the Senate against Republican incumbent 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’m going to be looking at around the country, states where Democrats have won in the past, where they might be able to win again if they have a candidate that really resonates and does the hard work of engaging voters early,” Gillibrand said.
FORMER TRUMP AMBASSADOR EYES SENATE RETURN, POTENTIALLY SETTING UP 2026 REMATCH IN KEY SWING STATE
Another potential pickup opportunity for Gillibrand may be blue-leaning Maine, where moderate Republican Susan Collins is up for re-election in 2026.
“Susan is quite tough to beat,” Gillibrand acknowledged. But she added that “if we get a great candidate there, that’s 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 Democrat-controlled seats.
In swing state New Hampshire, longtime Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who’s taking over as ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is up for re-election.
