Gillibrand to head Senate Democrats’ campaign arm

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) has been tapped by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to head the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, for the next two years.

“I am incredibly honored to serve as DSCC chair for the 2026 cycle. From now until Election Day, I will work my hardest to support our Democratic incumbents, recruit the strongest possible candidates, and ensure they have every resource needed to win,” Gillibrand said in a statement.

Gillibrand was the only Senate Democrat who expressed interest in the job to colleagues, according to several Democratic senators familiar with the internal discussion about the tough campaign assignment.

She will work closely with Schumer, who takes a hands-on rule in recruiting candidates and setting Senate Democrats’ campaign messaging strategy.

Her role as the junior senator from New York will allow her to tap Wall Street and other wealthy sectors for contributions.

She ran for president ahead of the 2020 election but dropped out after failing to gain much traction with Democratic primary voters.

Democrats need to pick up four Senate seats to regain the majority as long as President-elect Trump controls the White House and Vice President-elect JD Vance casts the tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

Gillibrand doesn’t have an easy job winning back the majority as she has to defend vulnerable Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) in Georgia and doesn’t have many promising Republican-held seats to target.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) will be two of the Democrats’ top targets but neither of them will be easy to beat.

Collins won re-election in 2020 by nine percentage points despite President Biden beating Trump by nine points in Maine that year.

Vice President Kamala Harris carried the state with a seven-point margin of victory in November.

Beating Tillis in North Carolina will be another tall order, given Tillis’s strong name identification across the state after serving two terms in the U.S. Senate and four years as speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives.

Democrats haven’t held either of North Carolina’s Senate seats since the late Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) lost re-election to Tillis in 2014.

Democrats haven’t carried the Tar Heel state in the presidential election since President Barack Obama narrowly won it in 2008. It has voted for the Republican nominee for president in every other election from 1980 to 2024.

Democrats may take a serious shot at knocking off Sens. Joni Ernst (R) in Iowa and Sen. John Cornyn (R) in Texas but both states are reliably Republican.

Ernst won re-election in 2020 by six points and Trump carried the Hawkeye State by 13 percentage points over Harris in 2024 — despite an outlier poll by the Des Moines Register in November that showed Harris ahead by 3 points in the state.

Ernst said last year that she would seek a third term in 2026.

Democrats made a lot of noise about the 2024 Texas Senate race and have predicted for years that the Lone Star State will eventually become a blue state.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) ended up cruising to victory over former Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) by a 9-point margin.

Cornyn, who was first elected to the Senate in 2002, would be very difficult to beat in a general election.

He is one of the biggest fundraisers in the Senate Republican conference and is one of the most recognized political names in Texas.

He narrowly lost a race against Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) in November to serve as Senate majority leader. He said will seek another six-year term in 2026.

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