Aide:Gillibrand picked as next NY senator
Posted: 01.23.2009 at 10:06 AM
New York Gov. David Paterson
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- An aide says New York Gov. David Paterson has picked congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand to fill New York's vacant U.S. Senate seat. She's in her second term from an upstate district.
The appointment lasts until 2010, then a special election will be held to fill the final two years.
Gillibrand was a dark horse, lacking the name recognition of Caroline Kennedy, who withdrew her candidacy, or even the seniority of other New York representatives vying for the job.
But she is a proven vote-getter in her sprawling eastern New York district. She picked off an entrenched Republican incumbent in 2006 and cruised to re-election last year.
(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)