Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand '88, D-N.Y., will not face any candidates expected to pose a serious threat in the race for one of New York's seats in the U.S. Senate after two potential opponents said they would not pursue the seat this week, according to The New York Times. Harold Ford, a former Democratic congressman from Tennessee, announced on Monday that he would not challenge Gillibrand in the primary, and Mortimer Zuckerman, a real estate and media billionaire who would have run as a Republican, announced Tuesday that he would not pursue the seat.
In an opinion article published in The New York Times on Tuesday, Ford said Democratic "party bosses" tried to bully him out of the race.
"Our political system so bogged down in partisan fighting is sapping the morale of New Yorkers and preventing government at every level from fulfilling its duty," Ford wrote.
While Ford said he saw victory in the primary as "fully achievable," he chose not to run because he believes his entry into the race would be detrimental to the Democratic Party, he said in the opinion piece.
"I've examined this race in every possible way, and I keep returning to the same fundamental conclusion: If I run, the likely result would be a brutal and highly negative Democratic primary a primary where the winner emerges weakened and the Republican strengthened," Ford wrote.
Zuckerman, who is not registered with a party in New York, announced Tuesday that he will not seek the Republican nomination for the Senate seat because of familial and business obligations, The Times reported.
Ford and Zuckerman's announcements leave Gillibrand's candidacy unchallenged, absent the emergence of another candidate.
"I think at the end of the day [Ford] may have underestimated me," Gillibrand told MSNBC.
Ford's departure will make Gillibrand's race smoother, according to government professor Joseph Bafumi.
"It makes it a little easier for Gillibrand because she has no major primary opponents to spend money on," Bafumi said. "She can conserve her money for the general election."
Ford's brief residency in New York, his congressional voting record as a representative of Tennessee and the $2 million salary he earns working at Merrill Lynch could have made his campaign for the Senate seat difficult, The Times reported.
Bafumi speculated that Gillibrand would have won the Democratic nomination even if Ford had chosen to stay in the race. Yet going forward, Gillibrand must focus on reassuring Democratic voters about her moderate voting record, he said.
"She needs to make sure her base Democratic voters are comfortable with her candidacy," he said. "As of now, she has a lot to be optimistic about, and the big question is who's going to enter into the race."
New York Gov. David Paterson appointed Gillibrand to the Senate seat vacated by current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in January 2009, The Dartmouth previously reported.
Gillibrand was elected to the House of Representatives in 2006, representing the mostly rural Republican-dominated 20th district in upstate New York.
Widely regarded as a conservative Democrat, Gillibrand received a 100 percent approval rating from the National Rifle Association and supported building a fence on the border between the U.S. and Mexico during her tenure in the House of Representatives, The Dartmouth previously reported.
Despite her often bipartisan politics, President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton campaigned for Gillibrand when she ran for the House of Representatives, The Times reported.
"Sen. Gillibrand looks forward to running a vigorous campaign on her record," Gillibrand spokeswoman Bethany Lesser previously said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
Prior to holding public office, Gillibrand worked as special counsel at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and at two prominent law firms, according to The Times. She has drawn criticism for past legal work representing Philip Morris Companies, a tobacco corporation, The Times reported.
Gillibrand was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and graduated magna cum laude with a major in Asian studies from the College, The Dartmouth previously reported. She received her law degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.
