Back when she represented that district she opposed gun control legislation and advocated stronger measures to restrict illegal immigration.
Now, her opinions have shifted 180 degrees.
She blames her previous opinions on her district constituents for making her ignorant. She says that only after becoming a Senator and talking to people in Brooklyn, did she realize her errors.
There are some problems here since: she lived in NYCity for 10 years before she moved to Albany; they actually have newspapers and TV in Albany; she could have spoken to other US representatives. Also, she only represented the district in Albany for 2 years (2007 to 2009). In that district, notwithstanding Gillibrand's characterization of it (being ashamed of her constituents), Obama received 58% and 59% in 2008 and 2012 and Clinton 54% in 2016. Also, she says her district was 98% white and it is actually closer to 80%.
So probably she was saying something she didn't believe in when she was a representative or is doing so now. That's hypocrisy but not particularly damaging or serious since many, probably most, people naturally assume U S Senators (particularly the ones that change their positions 180 degrees) are prone to that.
Irwin suggested that like the late Senator Robert Byrd and the late Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black (both of whom were KKK members and later renounced their membership), Gillibrand simply changed her mind on the issue.
Looking first at Senator Byrd; in the late 1950s, as he was running for the US Senate, he claimed to have left the KKK in 1942, however, as late as late as 1946 he wrote a letter, essentially praising the Klan. Because of that letter, I would have classified him as a hypocrite in the late 1950s (he was born in 1917). By the end of his career (2010), he had probably actually changed his mind.
Looking at Justice Black, in the 1920s Black joined the Klan but discontinued his membership in 1925. Nonetheless, in 1926 as he was running for Senator in Alabama he went to numerous Klan sponsored events and did not renounce the Klan at any of them. He later told a biographer that he joined the Klan so that it would not be dominated by irresponsible people and also said that he joined all groups that would get him votes but also said that joining the Klan was a mistake. This make him something of an opportunist and also, someone who really never truly renounced the Klan. Thus I can't really call him a hypocrite (although never really renouncing the Klan is worse).Comparing these two to Gillibrand is interesting. Byrd's journey away from the Klan has the problem of accounting for the 1946 pro-Klan letter. Black's journey away from the Klan seems to be opportunistic by Black's own testimony. Gillibrand's journey away from his position on gun control and immigration are clouded by the impossibility of believing her excuses. A truly sorry lot.
image and story about Senator Gillibrand is here.
presidential votes from wikipedia here
demographic from ballotpedia here
Senator Byrd and Justice Black's information come from here, here, and here.
