(CNN) Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat considering a presidential run in 2020, is planning a trip to Iowa next weekend, a Iowa Democrat with knowledge of the plans tells CNN.

The trip comes as Gillibrand inches closer to a bid and begins to build a campaign operation that is expected to be based in Troy, New York, an upstate town close to where Gillibrand lives, according to multiple Democrats who have talked to Gillibrand's team about the campaign.

A second Iowa Democrat tells CNN that Gillibrand and her team have begun courting possible staffers in the state and are reaching out a to a "ton" of possible supporters.

Gillibrand has also made several key hires, signaling that she is close to making her bid official and an announcement could be imminent.

Gillibrand has locked in Dan McNally, formerly the political director at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, as her 2020 campaign director, according to a source with knowledge of the hire. McNally, a longtime Democratic operative who managed Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet's 2016 campaign, has worked at both the DSCC and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

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