since 1998, brinkley has given nearly $1,000,000 to organizations and candidates of the democratic party of the united states, including hillary clinton, barack obama, democratic national committee, democratic senatorial campaign committee, democratic congressional campaign committee, america coming together and moveon.org. in the new york delegation, brinkley served as a delegate on the 2000 democratic national convention in los angeles. she has also been involved in anti-nuclear activities and campaigned against the restarting of the high flux beam reactor (hfbr) located at the brookhaven national laboratory.