Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who is looking to head up the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) for the 2026 cycle, thinks Democrats waited too long to address the current immigration crisis.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, the senator said, "For me, it would have been great if we could have gotten these commonsense, bipartisan ideas on the table two years ago, like really, a while ago, because the urgency has been very top of mind for certain communities in New York."
One of the top takeaways drawn from data from the Fox News Digital Voter Analysis after the 2024 election was that immigration was one of the biggest issues in the country. When voters were asked about reducing the number of immigrants allowed to seek asylum, twice as many favored reducing the number of immigrants allowed to do so.
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Democrats made their own case for addressing it, citing a border and immigration bill that was negotiated by a Republican senator, a Democrat senator and an independent border state senator. However, by the bill's last appearance on the Senate floor, two of its three negotiators had abandoned it. Only one Republican chose to vote in favor of the measure.
On the campaign trail, Democrats pointed to this bill and their attempt to pass it when confronting concerns about the border, often criticizing their Republican colleagues and President-elect Donald Trump for standing against it.
Gillibrand said immigration worries were some of the top concerns brought to her attention by voters.
"They wanted to make sure their kids were safe. So issues like immigration and fentanyl trafficking and gun trafficking were really important to them," she said.
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This and the economy and cost of living, "were really more salient," the senator said, reflecting on 2024 and how to win in red or purple areas comprised of swing voters.
When asked about abortion messaging in 2026, Gillibrand didn't say what she would do in the 2026 cycle if she was selected to lead the DSCC, but she said that "people really wanted to talk about the cost of things" in this cycle.
Whether identity politics played a role in Democrat losses and if the party should veer away from it, she didn't agree with some of her fellow Democrats.
"I think it was leaned in by Republican candidates to divide America, which I found to be really unfortunate," she said.
To fight those efforts, Gillibrand said, "I think you just say it like it is. I mean, just be truthful about it. And, you know, on a lot of those issues, a lot of our state governments already take care of it."
The New York senator said that even though the 2024 election occurred just weeks ago, the 2026 Senate cycle "really starts today."
She said she wants to lead the DSCC so she can "help other candidates across the country to be in their community, not two months before the election but two years before the election, talking to voters about what they care most about."
Notably, Gillibrand flipped a red House district to blue when she was first elected in 2006, unseating an incumbent.
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Though the senator hasn't officially been selected to take on the challenge of running the Democrat campaign arm yet, she is already eyeing some competitive candidates. In particular, Gillibrand said she thinks Democrat North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper would be a good candidate to try and flip a Senate seat to blue in the state.
"I haven't talked to him yet, but he's pretty impressive," she said.
The Senate seat in North Carolina is held by incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.
Gillibrand also noted that the Senate majority may not be something Democrats can earn back in 2026, telling Fox News Digital, "Sometimes it takes time to win back majorities, and it may take two cycles."
"I just know there's great races across the country and great candidates that, hopefully, I'll be part of recruiting, and hopefully we can win our majority back."
