Elise Stefanik (R-NY) has shown unwavering personal allegiance to Donald Trump over the past eight months, which is resulted in her appointment to replace Cheney as the Republican Conference Chair. Cheney the daughter of former Vice-President Dick Cheney, consistently repudiated Trump’s campaign of alleged falsehoods about election fraud.
Former President Trump has noticed and said via a tweet, “Elise Stefanik is a far superior choice, and she has my complete and total endorsement for GOP Conference Chair.” Trump’s nod played a major role in the push for her to replace Cheney.
Since the 2016 election Stefanik has undergone a slow but steady political transformation that has culminated in her becoming the nominee to replace Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney after her ouster GOP conference Chair, the third highest-ranking position for House Republicans.
Stefanik has leveraged her starring role as Trump’s top impeachment defender into an email list of 200,000 small donors, which she used to raise $13.3 million, nearly doubling her combined haul over three previous contests and steered loads of cash to other Republican candidates.
Stefanik has spent the past several months endorsing lawsuits to overturn the 2020 election, voting to reject Joe Biden’s winning electoral votes after the Capitol riot and supporting the alleged voting irregularities. She also frequently engaged in cancel-culture wars on cable news and social media, much to Trump’s delight.
Stefanik, who’s district spans from Albany’s outer suburbs to the Canadian border, voted overwhelmingly for Trump in both 2016 and 2020. She has capitalized on Trump’s popularity with her voters.
In a letter to her colleagues outlining her conference chair plans, Stefanik signaled her main focus will be on tightening Trump’s grip on the GOP, and said in the letter, “Our members are united in our laser focus on defeating the radical Socialist Democrat agenda of President.”
