New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) made a splash announcing her exploratory committee for the 2020 presidential election with Stephen Colbert in January. Gillibrand is a liberal Democrat from a blue state, but she was once considered a Blue Dog or a more conservative Democrat, from a redder part of upstate New York. She was previously against amnesty or benefits for people living in the U.S. illegally. She supported a crackdown on sanctuary cities, had a 100 percent voting record with the National Rifle Association and the lowest rating possible from a LGBTQ support group. And as a young lawyer in the 1990s, Gillibrand worked to help the tobacco industry at a time when it was denying its knowledge of the negative health impacts of cigarettes. But now, Gillibrand is considered one of the more progressive Democrats in the party. What happened? She tells Here & Now’s Robin Young that her “values have never changed,” but she did change her views on a few key issues, such as guns. “I came from a rural district. My mother didn't just cook the Thanksgiving turkey. She shot the Thanksgiving turkey,” Gillibrand says. “The mistake that I made and what I regret is that I didn't look outside my district, that I didn't actually concern myself with concerns in other parts of my state or other parts in the country.” When she was running for Senate, Gillibrand says, she realized communities across the state were “suffering deeply” from gun violence. So she resolved to pass an anti-gun trafficking law in New York to cut down on the number of illegal guns used in crimes that come from out of state. “The truth is, if you never change your mind, if you never can admit you're wrong, then you can't grow, and you're never going to be a wise leader,” Gillibrand says. “You're never going to be the kind of leader that brings this country together. And one of the reasons why I'm running for president is because I truly believe I can bring this country together.” Interview Highlights On why her more conservative past is an asset "I think it, ultimately, it's a strength because I did represent a 2 to 1 Republican district. And so I have this ability to not only listen and understand people's challenges and why they feel so left behind and why they voted for President Trump, but I can not only bring them back through common sense reforms that will answer their needs and meet their needs in their communities. And so that's why I think I'm the best candidate to defeat Trump and to win back those states we lost. I think my experience will allow me to speak effectively and to earn the support of people in Michigan and Ohio and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin."

"We don't know if we can get there, but why not try? That's the whole point. It's about vision." Kirsten Gillibrand on the Green New Deal

On her chances in the crowded Democratic field "Well, the breakthrough candidates in the midterm elections were all women. You look at what Kyrsten Sinema did in the red state of Arizona running as a bisexual woman on issues of poverty. You have Lucy McBath running in the suburbs of Atlanta in the seat that Jon Ossof did not win, but she ran on ending gun violence because she lost her son. So these are women who are running on liberal, progressive issues in red places from their heart. "And so I think what the electorate is looking for is someone who's running on conviction, on what they care deeply about, on their passion, with authenticity, and I think as a mom of young kids, not only do I have shared values with people all across America, but can find the common ground that is desperate. Right now, this country has been torn apart by President Trump, and in fact, what we need more than anything is someone to bring us back together and to remind this country that our best moments in our history, our greatest moments, are when we cared about others, when we treated others the way we want to be treated, lived by the Golden Rule, and cared about the least among us." On concerns that progressive Democrats are painted as socialists "I don't [worry about that] because what I do in Congress and what I've done in the Senate over the last 10 years is actually pass legislation on a bipartisan basis. And so for example, you mentioned a bunch of bills, sexual assault in the military, the last time we got a vote on it, we got more than half of the Senate to agree on my resolution, and our bill is widely bipartisan. I have Ted Cruz and Rand Paul on our bill. So I do bring people together on things that might be seen as progressive. "And I do believe ideas like the Green New Deal will be bipartisan because the components of that bill already are, and there's only three basic things to the bill. The first is infrastructure, which is already widely bipartisan. People want new money for a new electric grid or for mass transit or for rural broadband. They really need it. People want job training for the green jobs. And third clean air and clean water. It's about making sure we clean up the brownfields making sure kids aren't being polluted in their drinking water. That's what the Green New Deal is about, and the goal is net zero carbon emissions and that's, you're trying to get there in 10 years. "When John F. Kennedy said, 'I'm going to put a man on the moon in 10 years,' he didn't know he'd get there. We don't know if we can get there, but why not try? That's the whole point. It's about vision. And I think each of these component parts of the bill will easily be bipartisan."

"I think this campaign's gonna be about health care, education and jobs. Very simple stuff that people want you to have answers to." Kirsten Gillibrand