NEW YORK — Gov. David Paterson on Friday named a little-known upstate congresswoman, Kirsten Gillibrand, to the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton, bringing to a close a confusing, sometimes messy selection process.
“This senator has great shoes to fill,” said Paterson, introducing Gillibrand at a news conference and pointing out that her predecessors include Robert F. Kennedy and Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
He called Gillibrand, a second-term member of Congress from Hudson, “the best candidate to become the next United States senator from New York. . . . She is dynamic, she is articulate, she is perceptive, she is courageous, she is outspoken.”
In picking Gillibrand, Paterson bypassed several better-known contenders. Much attention and speculation had focused on Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the slain president and a personal friend of President Barack Obama, who withdrew from consideration Thursday.
Gillibrand, a lawyer and 1988 graduate of Dartmouth College, attracted some statewide notice in 2006 when she beat a Republican incumbent in a normally Republican district that surrounds Albany. She also gave birth six months ago to her second son, Henry, becoming one of only a handful of women in Congress to give birth while in office.
“I realize that for many New Yorkers, this is the first time you’ve heard my name, and you don’t know much about me,” Gillibrand said Friday. “Over the next two years, you will get to know me. But, much more importantly, I will get to know you.”
Obama quickly praised the choice, calling Gillibrand a “strong voice for transparency and reform in government.”
“I know that Kirsten has the integrity, character, and dedication to public service to help us achieve our greatest goals,” he said in a statement.
Clinton also released a statement congratulating Gillibrand, calling her “an intelligent and dedicated public servant and a dear friend.”
