5 facts about Robin Carnahan and Kirsten Gillibrand

Just for EMILY's List supporters, we've put together some little-known tidbits and personal photos of Robin Carnahan (MO-SEN) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY-SEN) to help you get to know these stellar women beyond their biographies.

5 Facts About Kirsten Gillibrand




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  1. Kirsten is the only member of the Senate who speaks Mandarin. When her aide got a call from a Chinese-language newspaper asking how to translate her name into Chinese, Gillibrand took the call herself, and proceeded to conduct an interview in Mandarin. She also speaks fluent French.
  2. Kirsten is the youngest member of the Senate and has two children 5 and under. She participated in a House Armed Services Committee hearing just hours before giving birth last spring to her son, Henry. Her other son, Theodore, is 5.
  3. Kirsten was among the first member of the House to post her schedule on the Internet after promising to bring transparency to Congress. She also regularly holds office hours at shopping centers on Saturdays to save constituents a trip to her office.
  4. Kirsten’s grandmother, Dorothea Noonan, was a women’s rights activist who founded the Albany Women’s Democratic Club.
  5. Gillibrand’s voting record has earned her 100 percent ratings or endorsements from Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and the Sierra Club.

5 Facts About Robin Carnahan




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  1. When Robin was re-elected as Secretary of State in November 2008, she received 1,749,152 votes -- more votes than any Missouri candidate in history.
  2. A love of politics runs in the Carnahan family genes. Robin's late father, Mel, was governor; her mother, Jean, was Missouri’s first woman U.S. senator; her brother Russ is a congressman, as was her grandfather.
  3. Robin is a leader for election reform in Missouri. As Secretary of State, she launched the Missouri Voting Rights Center – a web site that for the first time allowed Missourians to access their voting information, polling locations and election results online.
  4. As Secretary of State, Robin has cracked down on firms attempting to defraud investors. In 2008, she led a multi-state, on-site investigation into Wachovia -- after the investigation, Wachovia agreed to buy back $8.8 billion in bad bonds.
  5. Robin is a marathon runner, and most recently ran in the Race for the Cure to support funding for breast cancer.