Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) said Monday that Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) didn't have the "courage" to tell a school shooting survivor that he wouldn't accept any more donations from the National Rifle Association.
Speaking in Texas for "A Symposium on Texas Women," Gillibrand, who earned an "A" rating from the NRA as an upstate New York congresswoman before entering the Senate, said she evolved on gun rights when she met with families affected by gun violence in Brooklyn and was told she needed to do something.
Gillibrand cited the teenagers who survived the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and their activism for gun control, including when Cameron Kasky asked Rubio at a CNN town hall last week if he would no longer take NRA donations. Rubio said he would not turn them down because people "buy into my agenda."
"To have a young teenager show up at the town hall for Marco Rubio and say, 'Will you stop taking money from the NRA,' and Marco not having the courage to say 'yes,'" Gillibrand said. "That is changing everything. It certainly changed everything for me, because there was no way I was going to leave that opportunity to meet that family and those kids without having a different answer."
Gillibrand's swings to the left on guns and immigration were highlighted during a recent appearance on "60 Minutes," where she said she was "embarrassed" by her past support for gun rights and said it was due to the hunting culture of the district.
Explaining her district was "98 percent white," she also said she was ashamed of her prior strong stance against illegal immigration.
Gillibrand dodged a question Monday about whether she would run for president in 2020, saying she was focused on getting reelected to the Senate in 2018.
Gillibrand is one of a host of Democrats considered to be potential White House candidates hoping to unseat President Donald Trump. She said Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) and others rumored to be mulling or planning runs were "awesome."