U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is setting a midnight deadline for donors to raise up to $30,000 for her “Off The Sidelines” campaign this morning, in not one, but two fundraising emails with differing subject lines.

One email was teased as “97″ — a reference to the number of women elected now to both the House and Senate.

But Gillibrand says there’s more that needs to be done since three of her fellow female Democratic colleagues in the Senate are up for re-election next year.

From her fundraising email:

In 2014, three female Democratic senators will be up for re-election. In the House, 13 newly elected Democratic women will once again face serious challengers. We have to be ready to support them. Give to my Off the Sidelines PAC so we can defend Democratic women from right-wing attacks and ensure they remain in Congress where they belong. We need to raise $30,000 before midnight tonight to make this year’s first end-of-the-month goal. Please, don’t wait.

That Gillibrand is already fundraising isn’t all that surprising. But the use of the “Off THe Sidelines” political action committee is helping expand her influence and reach in the Senate, a historically stodgy institution whose composition is beginning to change.

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