New York's Gillibrand Takes First Step Toward Presidential Race

Steven T. Dennis and David Wainer, Bloomberg News

Kirsten Gillibrand , Photographer: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced Tuesday she’s taking a first step toward formally running for president in 2020, joining what’s shaping up to be the biggest field of Democratic candidates in a generation.

“I’m filing an exploratory committee for president of the United States tonight,” Gillibrand said during a taping of CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”

She’s one of a dozen congressional Democrats who are either considering or have announced their intention to seek the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, along with as many as another dozen current or former federal, state and local officeholders eyeing a bid.

Gillibrand plans to make stops this weekend in Iowa, where caucuses a little more than a year from now will mark the start of the nominating race.

To contact the reporters on this story: Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net;David Wainer in New York at dwainer3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net