NEW YORK (AP) - A private equity executive and Republican Party fundraiser, Chele Chiavacci Farley, announced Thursday that she would run to unseat U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a popular Democrat.
In a campaign video, Farley accused Gillibrand of being a political opportunist more focused on advancing her career than serving the needs of New Yorkers.
“While Kirsten Gillibrand is out trying to raise her national profile to advance her political ambitions, only a portion of every dollar hard-working New York taxpayers send to Washington ever comes back to our state,” Farley said. “I’ve spent my career in the private sector - paying taxes, not living off your taxes. Helping companies create jobs - not figuring out ways to sue them,” Farley said. “I will bring our tax dollars back home and rebuild New York.”
She took another swipe at Gillibrand by including a photograph of the senator standing with Harvey Weinstein, the film producer accused of assaulting and harassing numerous women. Weinstein was a frequent donor to Democrats.
Gillibrand spokesman Glen Caplin said the senator was proud of her record and welcomed the challenge.
“Kirsten always encourages women to run for office, even when she doesn’t agree with their pro-Trump or anti-choice views,” he said.
Farley, the state Republican Party’s New York City finance chair, worked at UBS Capital and Goldman Sachs before joining Mistral Capital International, a private equity investment firm specializing in the real estate and energy industries.
She got her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering at Stanford University, where she was a roommate with former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson.
Farley has little name recognition with the general public and is taking on a Democrat with broad appeal in the state. Gillibrand got 72 percent of the vote in her last election, in 2012, against Republican Wendy Long.
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