Kirsten Gillibrand, possibly the most popular politician in the history of New York state, has had a spotlight on her since she ran in and won a special election for the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton when she was nominated for Secretary of State. And though she’s the “junior” Senator from the Empire State, her star has been rising since she won re-election to that seat with the largest margin of any statewide race — a HUGE 72 percent of the vote.
It’s not an understatement, then, to say that Senator Gillibrand has an outsized footprint on the chamber she’s employed in, despite being in office there for less than a decade.
But there are two ways to make your name in politics, and lately it has seemed like they split along party lines: You can be notable or you can be notorious. Kirsten Gillibrand is nothing if not notable. She’s gone after banks, corporations, unfair employment practices, and even after some Republicans who refused to make exceptions and keep paying our soldiers during the recent government shutdown. But one of the highest-profile pieces of legislation she’s cosponsored in the last year is Senate Bill 2165, introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders — the Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands Equitable Rebuild Act of 2017.
That made her a hero not just among the other Democratic notables who also signed on, like Liz Warren and Kamala Harris, but a hero to the people of Puerto Rico, many of whom are STILL without power after the hurricane that ravaged the tiny American territory last September.
But one Puerto Rican was especially happy to hear from Senator Gillibrand in the last few days: San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, with whom Donald Trump himself feuded furiously during the hurricane over his incompetence and intransigence toward the American citizens of the island community.
That’s because Senator Gillibrand is bringing the Mayor to Trump’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday, where the president will be forced to look his opponent in the eye the entire time he’s speaking:
It is an honor to announce that Mayor @CarmenYulinCruz of San Juan, Puerto Rico will join me at the #SOTU. Throughout the crisis in Puerto Rico, Mayor Cruz has shown extraordinary leadership and fearless advocacy for her city.
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) January 29, 2018
I hope Mayor Cruz’s presence at #SOTU will remind the president and my colleagues in Congress of our urgent responsibility to help Puerto Rico fully recover and rebuild. Our fellow citizens must not be forgotten or left behind.
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) January 29, 2018
We can’t wait to see the look on Trump’s face.
Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images
