Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), along with the rest of the 2020 presidential field, has raced to hire top staff in what's expected to be a massive primary. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images 2020 elections Gillibrand adds top national, New Hampshire staff to 2020 campaign The New York senator has hired a national political director and senior aides in the first primary state.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has hired five additional senior staffers to her presidential campaign, including a state director in New Hampshire just before her second trip there, Gillibrand's campaign told POLITICO.

Gillibrand will make stops in Hanover, Keene, Dover and Exeter this weekend on her return to the first primary state. The New York Democrat, who launched a presidential exploratory committee in January, has appeared in three of the four states with early 2020 nominating contests so far.


The new additions to Gillibrand’s campaign are Semedrian Smith, national political director; Danielle Duffy, chief operating officer; Gavrie Kullman, digital finance director; Pat Devney, New Hampshire state director; and Shannon McLeod, New Hampshire political director.

Smith was the deputy campaign manager for Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown’s reelection campaign in 2018 before joining Gillibrand's 2020 team. Duffy, who spent nearly a decade working in the nonprofit world, also served as the director of operations for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's independent expenditure unit in 2008.

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Kullman recently led the Democratic Governors Association's digital department, also serving as a senior digital adviser to the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. Gillibrand’s political operation put an emphasis on digital fundraising in the two years before she launched her presidential campaign, raising over $10 million online for her Senate reelection in 2017 and 2018.

In New Hampshire, Devney has led campaigns in the state for a decade, including Democrat Colin Van Ostern's 2016 run for governor. He also served as a political adviser to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. McLeod led Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig's finance operation in 2017.

Gillibrand, along with the rest of the 2020 presidential field, has raced to hire top staff in what's expected to be a massive primary.