Just weeks after Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 presidential race, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is reaching out to her donors to talk to them "about the direction of the country," and some of Clinton's backers aren't happy.
"Many of us are still grieving," one commented this week for the New York Post's Page Six. "It's like going after the widow at a funeral."
Gillibrand, who filled Clinton's U.S. Senate seat when she became Secretary of State during President Barack Obama's first term in office, isn't asking donors specifically about the 2020 race, a source told Page Six. "But it is implied" that's what the calls are about.
A spokesperson for Gillibrand did not return a call for comments, the Post reports, Should she decide to seek the nomination, it could set up a clash of powerful New York Democrats, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also indicated he's interested in a presidential race.
There are several other Democrats who remained out of the 2016 race because Clinton had been considered too powerful to defeat, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, ex-San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, and even her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, reports The Boston Globe in a profile of potential future candidates.
Meanwhile, there is already talk about Trump's potential successor, should he back out of a second term or be defeated in 2020, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
And when it comes to outsider candidates, rapper Kanye West last year said he also wants to seek office, telling Britain’s BBC Radio 1 that "if there is anything that I can do with my time and my day to somehow make a difference while I’m alive, I’m going to try to do it," notes the Post.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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