Fellow New Yorkers, Meet Your New Senator

Gov. David Paterson is set to appoint Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to fill the vacancy left after junior Senator Hillary Clinton's ascension to the Secretary of State post this week. Gillibrand came to Congress in 2006 after defeating 4-term Republican John Sweeney in a hard fought campaign. Her victory was the first by a Democrat in her district in 28 years and came in a year that saw Republicans driven completely to the sidelines in New York State politics. She was reelected in 2008 by a wider margin after defeating former New York State GOP chairman Sandy Treadwell.

Gillibrand's district, the 20th, encompasses the upstate areas of parts of Rensselaer, Washington, Warren, Columbia, Saratoga, and several other counties, including the hometowns of your humble narrator and our Club president Lynn Krogh.

I must confess I don't know much about Gillibrand, so if you have any valuable information to include, please let me know. I did learn that she was endorsed by the NRA, which is a good sign. Beyond that, I'm all ears.