Following their ballot-box losses in November, Democrats are working hard to regain control of the Senate in the 2026 midterm elections. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand ’88, D-NY, thinks if they campaign strategically on issues voters care most about, a “blue wave” is within reach.
Gillibrand received a warm welcome on campus April 25, as the fifth speaker in the , sponsored by Dartmouth Dialogues and the in collaboration with the Center for Business, Government, and Society, Dartmouth Democrats, Dartmouth Conservatives, and the Dartmouth Political Union. The discussion was co-moderated by , clinical professor of business administration and faculty director at the Center for Business, Government, and Society at the , Alex Azar III ’25 of the Dartmouth Conservatives, and Lucia Vitali ’26 of Dartmouth Democrats.
Gillibrand spoke candidly to an audience of 190 in Filene Auditorium and another 200 viewers about her party’s “soul-searching,” saying that “the biggest challenge for Democrats is that people who voted for Trump didn’t think that they would help them on the concerns that matter to them the most.”
She said voters’ top three priorities were inflation, crime, and immigration, and that most Democrats who addressed those worries head-on were victorious. But in the waning days of the presidential campaign, Gillibrand said Trump’s challenger, former Vice President Kamala Harris, chose instead to emphasize threats to democracy and reproductive rights.
“We lost a percentage of white men, Black men, Hispanic men, Asian men, and young men,” Gillibrand noted. Among women, she said, 58% had helped Joe Biden win the presidency, but only 54% voted for Harris.
Nonetheless, as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the next cycle, Gillibrand is optimistic about the 2026 midterm election.
“My job is to try to flip the Senate,” she said. “The weight of energy always goes against the party in power. People never really feel very comfortable when one party has all the power. It tends to create wave elections.”
Gillibrand said Democrats can and will rebuild their traditional bases of support with clearer messaging, smarter use of social media, and relentless grassroots campaigning.
“If we do those things, I believe we will build a very strong blue wave,” she predicted. “And it’s because President Trump is overreaching.”
“When you begin to say you can’t answer the phone for the Social Security Administration and the online portals keep crashing, and you say you’re going to cut Medicare or Medicaid, that is massive overreach. And when you do that, voters lose faith in you because you’re not caring about the things you said you would fix, like the cost of things, the cost of your health care, the cost of your food.”
Gillibrand urged Americans who oppose the actions of the Trump administration to press for constructive change, as litigation challenging his use of executive power unfolds.
“Advocacy matters. Speaking out matters, and fighting for what we believe in matters. And, hopefully, we will persuade people along the way as opposed to dividing people. Because we need to bring this country back together again,” Gillibrand said, drawing applause.
Wheelan asked Gillibrand to speak directly to young people in the audience who might be wondering how best to engage in civic life.
“Public service—whether you’re a teacher, whether you’re a doctor or a nurse, whether you’re a firefighter, whether you’re in elected office, whether you work in a not-for-profit, whether you work in any public service organization—is extremely rewarding. You wake up every day and you know that your job is to help people to actually make a difference in their lives, to solve a problem, to be the difference that they need,” she said.
Moving forward, Gillibrand said she would work to advance legislation that provides paid family leave—a goal she said is shared by the Trump administration, strengthens Social Security by requiring investment at all income levels, adds hearing and vision coverage to Medicare, and improves access to early childhood education.
“If you can start an idea from a place of bipartisanship, it’s so much easier to build something that’s really resilient and useful and good,” she said.
Gillibrand’s willingness to work across the aisle resonated with attendee Aiden Cardoso ’28. “Democrats during this time have to be optimistic because they don’t have control of the House or the Senate,” he said. “So if our best solution is to work with the opposing side the best that we can, then so be it.” His twin brother, Jaleel, agreed, but also said Democrats should adhere to their core values, such as fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion, and should not “attempt to continuously mimic what the Republicans are doing.”
Samantha Bevins ’25, a government major and former White House intern, praised Gillibrand’s call for advocacy. “I think right now a lot of students feel like there isn’t much they can do, that their voices aren’t being heard. And what she’s saying is that actually they are being heard, and that Congressmen are listening, governors are listening, mayors are listening. She’s listening.”
The 100 Days Series will continue May 8 with .
