Kirsten Gillibrand easily wins re-election to US Senate

Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand won re-election to a third full term Tuesday, easily defeating Republican challenger Mike Sapraicone, a retired NYPD detective, according to unofficial results.

The Associated Press called the race as soon as polls closed in New York at 9 p.m.

The Dem, 57, was first appointed to the Senate in 2009 by the governor at the time, David Paterson, after then-Sen. Hillary Clinton stepped down to become President Barack Obama’s secretary of state.

Gillibrand then won the election to complete Clinton’s term in 2010 and was re-elected again in 2016 and 2020.

The former upstate congresswoman shifted left on some policy issues such as gun control when she became senator. 

She’s been a leading advocate against sexual harassment and sexual abuse of women in the military, too.

In 2017, she was the first Democratic senator to call for the resignation of then-Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, who was accused of unwanted groping and kissing of women.

She also made headlines when she said then-President Bill Clinton, a former political backer, should have resigned over the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Gillibrand made a brief, unsuccessful bid for the presidency after her 2018 Senate re-election victory.

Sapraicone, a retired NYPD detective who has headed a security consulting firm, was making his first run for public office this year.

He was vastly outspent by Gillibrand, whose campaign paid for pricey 30-second TV ads during the World Series games touting her legislative bills to help 9/11 first responders and veterans exposed to toxic burn pits.

A late October pre-election poll conducted by Siena College had Gillibrand leading Sapraicone 57% to 31%.

She will continue to serve alongside New York’s senior senator, Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who was first elected to the upper chamber in 1998 after serving as a Brooklyn congressman.