Underneath that joy, however, is obvious frustration inside Gillibrand.

She entered the presidential race as a top name, someone who had operated on the national stage for years and who had a deep donor base to help fund her effort. But, with now more than 20 Democrats in the race, she finds herself in the middle of the pack and relying heavily on her Senate campaign fundraising account to finance her presidential effort.

The thing that appears to frustrate Gillibrand the most is the fact she has yet to hit the 65,000-donor threshold, while candidates like businessman Andrew Yang and author Marianne Williamson have reached the milestone that helps candidates qualify for the first and second Democratic debates.

And her ire over that threshold is aimed at the Democratic National Committee.

“That’s an odd measurable,” she said bluntly of the 65,000-donor threshold. “Like, why do you make that your measurable as opposed to have you won elections before and have you ever run statewide before and how many votes have you gotten before and have you passed legislation and are you effective in your job?”