Gillibrand’s new ad has a very moderate vibe

In a new ad, Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is emphasizing public safety and working across the aisle. In it, she frames herself as a lawmaker who “worked with both parties” to get results on border security, crime and drugs – in an apparent bid to appeal to moderate and right-leaning voters. 

The ad features Gillibrand against a backdrop of a dark CCTV monitoring room and shows a headline from the conservative tabloid the New York Post about her efforts to change gun laws. 

“When you have a job like mine, the thing you think about before everything else, before politics, budgets, hearings, all of it, is keeping people safe,” Gillibrand says in the new ad, titled “Job One.”

The increased focus on crime and immigration mirrors the recent playbook of Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, who handily regained a Republican seat in a Long Island special election earlier this year. New York Democrats lost big in 2022, a result attributed partly to attitudes about public safety.

Gillibrand’s ad drop follows a recent Siena poll which found she has a safe 23-point lead against her Republican opponent, retired NYPD detective Mike Sapraicone. It’s a big cushion, but it’s smaller than her margin of victory in the past two elections. In 2012, Gillibrand won by 46 points, and by 34 points in 2018. The poll also found that independent voters in New York favor Sapraicone by 9 points, reversing Gillibrand’s previous 13-point lead among those voters. 

“These are important issues to New Yorkers of all stripes,” a Gillibrand campaign spokesperson said. “It’s important voters know Kirsten is focused on public safety, cracking down on fentanyl traffickers and getting illegal guns off the street.”

Gillibrand may be painting herself as a bipartisan champion in her new ad, but she has been a part of a statewide initiative to raise money for swing district Democratic candidates, and she’s not only offering assistance in her home state. The senator has plans to campaign for Rep. Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Rep. Bob Casey in Pennsylvania. 

The New York senator is also confident enough in her fundraising abilities to plan a run for Democratic Senatorial Congressional Committee chair in 2026 – a seat soon to be vacated by current chair Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan.