Kirsten Gillibrand

Kirsten Gillibrand was born in 1966 and is currently serving as the junior United States Senator from New York. Senator Gillibrand was reelected in the U.S. Senate in 2018 and her seat will be up for election again in 2024. She ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for U.S. President in 2020.

Prior to joining the Senate, Gillibrand served as U.S. Representative for New York’s 20th congressional district from 2007 until 2009. In that year she was appointed by Governor David Paterson to fill the Senate vacated by Hillary Clinton who was nominated as U.S. Secretary of State. Gillibrand was required to run in a special election in 2010 for the permanent position, which she won, and was reelected to a full term in 2012.

Senator Gillibrand is currently serving on the Armed Services Committee; the Environment and Public Works Committee; the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee; and the Special Committee on Aging.

Below is Senator Gillibrand’s voting record and public positions on issues important to the Jewish community.

Asked whether Senator Gillibrand would move the U.S. Embassy back to Tel Aviv, her campaign said that “while she won’t undo that unproductive and impulsive decision, she would undertake new diplomatic initiatives to restart peace negotiations, including reopening the diplomatic mission to the Palestinians, our USAID presence in the West Bank and restarting USAID programs that President Trump has cut.”

Senator Gillibrand supported the Iran nuclear deal. She has not stated whether she would support rejoining the deal if she is elected President.

Senator Gillibrand is a supporter of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She cosponsored a resolution that reinstated the support for the two-state solution and objected the UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which claimed that Israel’s settlements have no legal validity.

Senator Gillibrand opposes the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and has cosponsored a resolution that opposes efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel and the global BDS movement that targets Israel. She cosponsored the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, a bill that aimed to counter discriminatory boycotts that target Israel, but withdrew her support for the bill citing First Amendment concerns.

In 2018, Senator Gillibrand has cosponsored the United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of, a legislation that supported full funding of security assistance to Israel as outlined in the 2016 U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding.

Senator Gillibrand has been vocal about the dangers of the rise of anti-Semitism and about the need to call it out.

In 2019, Senator Gillibrand voted against the Strengthening America’s Middle East Security Act which, among other things, strengthens Israel’s security, and allows a state or local government to adopt measures to divest its assets from entities that boycott Israel.

You can watch the video below to learn more about Senator Gillibrand’s position on these issues.