Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand has spent more than a month traveling around the country to gauge support for a 2020 presidential campaign, and the New York senator says she is now officially in the race.
Gillibrand is joining the dozen-plus contenders, saying in a campaign video that the nation needs "a leader who makes big, bold, brave choices. Someone who isn't afraid of progress. That's why I'm running for president."
In January, Gillibrand said she was forming an exploratory committee to fight for children, health care and job training.
"But you are never going to accomplish any of these things if you don't take on the systems of power that make all of that impossible — which is taking on institutional racism, it's taking on the corruption and greed in Washington, taking on the special interests that write legislation in the dead of night," Gillibrand continued. "And I know that I have the compassion, the courage and fearless determination to get that done."
Gillibrand has been one of the most forceful critics of the Trump administration. She said her debut speech as a candidate will come next Sunday in front of the Trump International Hotel & Tower in New York.