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Female Senators Work as a Team, Gillibrand Assures Supporters

If there’s one thing Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has come to appreciate about working on Capitol Hill (there’s gotta be something good about #ThisTown, right?), it’s the collaborative environment she and the other 19 female senators have joined forces to foster.  

(Warren Rojas/CQ Roll Call)
(Warren Rojas/CQ Roll Call)

“We cheer each other on,” the New York Democrat told well-wishers at a D.C. book party about the camaraderie the female pols have developed in their respective chamber.  

“We don’t agree on everything. But we often want to find the common ground, because we want to get things done,” she explained to HOH. “And that makes a huge difference.”  

Gillbrand trumpeted the workplace sisterhood during remarks she gave at a cocktail party in honor of her new book, “Off the Sidelines.” Political activist Connie Milstein, someone Gillibrand has apparently come to count on, opened up her fabulous art-filled home for the event.  

“I’m just grateful for every bit of generosity you’ve ever extended,” Gillibrand thanked the beaming host. Friends and fans mingled about. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was an early draw.  

(Warren Rojas/CQ Roll Call)
(Warren Rojas/CQ Roll Call)

MSNBC personality Andrea Mitchell showed up just in time to squeeze into a group shot featuring Milstein, Gillibrand, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. — “One of my dearest friends in the Senate,” Gillibrand noted — and Tina Flint Smith, the former chief of staff to Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton who has since been bumped up to running mate for Dayton’s re-election bid.  

In between plugs for the book (“Buy it for every woman and girl you know,” she campaigned), Gillibrand spoke fondly about working on military related issues with former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and plodding forward in the modern day trenches with help from Senate Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.  

She also mentioned bonding with New Hampshire Republican Kelly Ayotte both on and off the softball diamond.  

“We play on the softball team together, so we got to know each other as moms and as friends,” Gillibrand said, adding, “I’ve had her to my house with her children.”  

Those play dates, we presume, take place somewhere here in D.C., because as Gillibrand famously noted in the book, much to the chagrin of NoVa residents, her time in neighboring Arlington wasn’t so great.  

Gillibrand suggested that the unhappiness she felt had more to do with chemistry than geography.  

“It was more of a story about where I was in my marriage. And that we were really struggling and didn’t really find our place,” she said of the “soulless” kerfuffle. “Much less about Arlington.”  

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