NEW YORK _ Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says 2020 is not on her horizon.
The New York Democrat vowed Thursday that she will not mount a challenge against President Donald Trump in the next general election if she wins her midterm race next month.
"I will serve my six-year term," Gillibrand, 51, said when asked about her presidential prospects during an at times heated debate in Manhattan against her GOP challenger Chele Farley.
Farley, a Trump-endorsed conservative who serves as the financial chair for New York's Republican Party, scoffed at Gillibrand's pledge.
"Honestly, I don't believe that," Farley, 51, said during the ABC News-moderated debate, criticizing her opponent for spending time in five states other than New York in the past month, including New Hampshire, a crucial state in presidential elections because of its early primary.
Farley is trailing Gillibrand by 25 percent in the latest Quinnipiac University poll.
Thursday's debate, which was the first and only one between the two candidates, focused heavily on Trump and his policies on immigration.
Farley blasted Gillibrand over her proposal to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which is responsible for arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants.
Gillibrand fired back that the agency needs to be drastically overhauled as its reputation has been "destroyed" by the Trump administration, which has allotted resources to deport anyone found to have violated U.S. immigration laws, contrary to previous administrations that typically only removed violent offenders.
"They are arresting people who are in their green card interviews," Gillibrand said, citing a letter from 19 senior ICE officials that lamented the Trump administration is focused too heavily on removal proceedings while sidelining the agency's counter-terrorism operations.
Gillibrand also ripped into Trump's "divisive" style of politics and argued the nation needs an even-tempered leader.
"I think we need to have a role model in the White House and I don't think we have that," Gillibrand said.
