 During her House tenure, Gillibrand was a Blue Dog Democrat noted for voting against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.Following Senator Clinton's appointment as Secretary of State in 2009, Governor David Paterson selected Gillibrand to fill the Senate seat that had been vacated by Clinton.Gillibrand won a special election in 2010 to keep the seat, and was re-elected to full terms in 2012 and 2018.