Gillibrand still has no New York endorsments

[Barack Oganja]

Senator Cory Booker has been endorsed for president by New Jersey’s entire 11-member Democratic congressional delegation, his state’s governor and its other senator. Senator Bernie Sanders has the backing of Vermont’s other senator and its lone House member. Senator Kamala Harris has support from three-quarters of the Democrats in the California State Senate, the governor and a handful of House members from her state.

Even John Delaney, the former Maryland congressman running a long-shot bid for president, has the support of a House member from his home state.

But Senator Kirsten Gillibrand? No one from New York’s 21-member congressional delegation is yet backing her bid for president. And neither is New York’s governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, or its other senator, Chuck Schumer, who as minority leader is staying neutral because numerous senators are in the race.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/07/us/politics/kirsten-gillibrand-endorsements-2020.html



https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1103779842003271681

[Progressive Pessimist]

Endorsements don't matter anymore, but this still does not bode well for her campaign.

[Crumpets]

Neither did Bernie at this point in 2015, IIRC. Neither did Trump.

[Medal506]

Neither did Bernie at this point in 2015, IIRC. Neither did Trump.

Bernie lost the nomination by 13 points and Trump actually won so I don't see why you would put the two in the same category.

[OneJ]

Neither did Bernie at this point in 2015, IIRC. Neither did Trump.

Bernie lost the nomination by 13 points and Trump actually won so I don't see why you would put the two in the same category.

It doesn’t make his point wrong now, does it?

[Rookie Yinzer]

Gillibrand will never receive a billion dollars worth of free coverage from the media so the Trump comparison is irrelevant.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Neither did Bernie at this point in 2015, IIRC. Neither did Trump.

They might have had some lower level endorsements. Of the 14 candidates (including Yang and Williamson), plus Ojeda who withdrew, Wikipedia lists endorsements for all but Gillibrand and Buttigeig. Now some of them only have pretty low level endorsements, but they all have something.

[Builder Refused]

James Chance, Lydia Lunch, Mars, or DNA? It's a very fragmentary crowd and they have wildly different styles, I'm glad she has some of such an obscure and outdated genre's watermarks nailed down but honestly the Electroclash crowd is just as valid, she should try and get Fischerspooner and Snow, definitely more appeal to the transient 90s East German techno scene, these are figures people care about guys

[Tekken_Guy]

I think people are waiting to see if Cuomo, de Blasio, or Bloomberg run.

[MAINEiac4434]

Gillibrand isn’t officially running for President. Warren didn’t have any endorsements until she ran.

[History505]

I think people are waiting to see if Cuomo, de Blasio, or Bloomberg run.

Bloomberg already announced he's not running.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

I think people are waiting to see if Cuomo, de Blasio, or Bloomberg run.

None of those people are running for President.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It's interesting how political endorsements are largely confined to a candidate's home state. I've been surprised that Leahy endorsed Bernie so quickly, given he supported Hillary in 2016, but maybe it was because Hillary just seemed inevitable, which is why Sanders had a few congressional endorsements.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Neither did Bernie at this point in 2015, IIRC. Neither did Trump.

Bernie lost the nomination by 13 points and Trump actually won so I don't see why you would put the two in the same category.

And we should clarify that he would have lost the nomination by even more if he had dropped out when any other rational candidate would have.

[Blair]

It's interesting how political endorsements are largely confined to a candidate's home state. I've been surprised that Leahy endorsed Bernie so quickly, given he supported Hillary in 2016, but maybe it was because Hillary just seemed inevitable, which is why Sanders had a few congressional endorsements.

There seems to be a strong tradition of supporting whoever runs from your state- McConnell endorsed Paul in 2016, Joe Kennedy has endorsed Warren and even Schumer endorsed Clinton in 08 despite them apparently hating each other.

In all fairness to Gillibrand she's never been a state politician (unlike Harris/Booker), and NY politics has a whole cluster of egos, petty feuds and people who are most happy in front of a mirror.

But it does reflect that her campaign is virtually dead on arrival.

[Fuzzy Bear]

New York Democratic politics is very much skewed toward New York City.  The road is hard for a statewide Democrat to be nominated unless they are from the city.  The exceptions to this in recent years have been Lt. Governors (Del Bello and Lundine were from Westchester County and Western NY and Hochul is from Syracuse), but these are people who only became prominent because the NYC Democrats needed them.

The only exceptions have been "big stars".  Hillary Clinton lived in Westchester County and Daniel Patrick Moynihan lived upstate in his later years, but was from New York City. 

In that respect, Gillibrand is viewed somewhat as a person who was appointed to a seat she was not "entitled to".  She's from the Saratoga area, in a normally Republican district up the Northway who was appointed to replace Hillary, somewhat at Hillary's urging.  It was also a time where the incumbent Governor (Spitzer) was forced out of office due to a sex scandal, and his replacement (Patterson) turned out to be incredibly over his head.  (Richard Ravitch was appointed Lt. Gov. to run things at one point until Cuomo could get elected and take over.)  In this environment, Gillibrand was elected in her own right in 2010 and re-elected in 2012 and 2018. 

Despite all of this, she's still resented by the NYC Democratic Establishment, and the NYC Democratic reformers, for that matter.  She's got what it theirs.  I am sure that any number of Democrats in NY hope a Democrat other than Gillibrand is elected, after which, they appoint Gillibrand to an Administration position, allowing them to get "their" vacancy back.

She's not as popular as Schumer, but some of that stems from the fact that New Yorkers recognize having a guy in Schumer's position in the Senate as a major asset.  She's not going anywhere, unless she runs for President.  But she's not loved in NY political circles, and the fact that she is not from NYC is a big reason as to why.