The National Rifle Association used to love Kirsten Gillibrand.
When she was appointed to the Senate, taking over Hillary Clinton’s New York seat in 2009, she boasted that she used to sleep with guns under her bed and recalled her family hunting their own Thanksgiving turkeys.
As far as the gun lobby group was concerned, the Democrat’s voting record was unimpeachable during her time as a Congresswoman representing a rural district in upstate New York.
But as a Senator her position reversed, backing a raft of gun control measures much to the fury of the NRA which downgraded her from A to F.
For Ms Gillibrand, who announced in January that she would run for president in 2020, the shift on gun control is one of a number of issues on which she has moved sharply to the left over the last few years.
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She was once a member of the Blue Dog Coalition of moderate to conservative Democrats holding views which were anathema to the progressive wing of the party.
Ms Gillibrand was a supporter of increased funding for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): she now wants the agency disbanded.
Once given the lowest rating of New York Democrats by the Human Rights Campaign, Ms Gillibrand has since become an outspoken supporter of gay rights.
Over the past year, she has become known as the #Metoo senator, strongly supporting women’s causes and leading calls for the resignation from the Senate of fellow Democrat Al Franken, after several women accused him of sexual misconduct.
Critics, notably major Democratic donor, George Soros, regard Ms Gillibrand’s move as being opportunist.
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Her rounding on Al Franken only served to reinforce doubts among those who have not been convinced by Ms Gillibrand’s leftward drift.
While she maintains that her earlier views reflected those of her voters in a conservative district, cynics suggest she has been burnishing her radical credentials to boost her chances of securing the nomination.
Her move to the left reflects the direction of traffic among grassroots Democrats, but some experts believe that the New York Senator will have a tough job winning the support of the party’s rank and file.
“Gillibrand’s problem is that she needs to work on her ‘conversion’ story which has seen her evolve from being a moderate Democrat from upstate New York to an unrelenting opponent of Donald Trump,” said Brandon Barford, a partner at Beacon Policy Advisors, a Washington DC-based consultancy.
“The left would say she has a ton to answer for, as they are not forgiving of ideological impurity.
“All of the candidates so far have that problem to a certain extent but Gillibrand more than most.”
Nevertheless, the 52-year-old Senator can also point to a record of solid achievement as a legislator.
She has been praised for her role in sponsoring bipartisan legislation prolonging the compensation fund for the survivors of 9/11, including first responders and workers, who contracted cancer linked to the terror attacks. It had been due to expire.
Ms Gillibrand comes from a family rooted in the politics of upstate New York. Her grandmother, Dorothea “Polly” Noonan, founded the Albany Democratic Women’s Club and was a key ally of Albany’s powerful mayor Erastus Corning.
Her father, Douglas Rutnik, was a lawyer and political lobbyist.
Privately educated, she graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in Asian Studies. She subsequently became a lawyer, taking on pro bono cases including support to abused women and to tenants living in unsafe housing.
In 2001 she married British venture capitalist Jonathan Gillibrand, whom she met on a blind date. They have two sons, Henry and Theodore.
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“She is an incredibly hard worker,” said Scott Murphy, who succeeded Ms Gillibrand as the congressman for New York’s 20th district.
“Kirsten took on the challenge of running for a district which had been Republican for 150 years. She went out to convince voters that it could be represented by a Democrat and I was a beneficiary of that.
“Kirsten is obviously a great leader and has been outspoken on a number of issues that people are aware of now.
“She has been a leader on women’s issues, not just those who have been victimised but also bringing women into leadership roles.
“Anyone who has been involved with Kirsten comes away with a sense of how she brings an immense amount of energy into anything she takes on.”
Whether Ms Gillibrand’s Damascene conversion to the cause of gun control and immigrants’ rights will gain traction is a matter of conjecture.
“Candidates are trying to stake a position on the left and my concern with her is that she may have overdone it, such as by calling for the abolition of ICE,” said Barney Frank, a former Democrat congressman who served with Ms Gillibrand in the House of Representatives.
“In a campaign where so many candidates are similar, even small differences can be important.
“I think it could be an issue for her, not in a Gillibrand versus Trump contest, but when you are talking about Gillibrand versus Warren or Kamala Harris.”