Former Republican rising star Elise Stefanik left not only her seat in the House representing New York, but a massive gap in campaign funding that has some of her colleagues scrambling to fill the void.
According to a report from Politico’s Playbook, the former House member who started out as a moderate before becoming one of Donald Trump’s most avid MAGA supporters, was able to use her ties to the president to become a prodigious fundraiser known to share the wealth while representing a safe GOP seat.
After she walked away from her seat following several false starts where she was set to join the Trump administration –– only to be passed over –– that cash she brought in has dried up.
"This is going to be a challenging year for Republicans and the party does not have the apparatus," one GOP official told Politico.
The report notes that three years ago, Stefanik was embracing her role as Republican Party powerbroker, and helping raise massive sums for swing-district House candidates. She had become the longest-serving House Republican lawmaker in New York — a position that came with serious fundraising clout.
Now there's no successor on the Republican bench and it is showing, according to reports.
Conservative Party Chair Jerry Kassar addressed the void bluntly, explaining, "We've lost a figure that can communicate very well throughout the state with all sorts of independents, conservatives, Republicans. I've felt it. I miss her. I miss her as a statewide player in politics."
The report notes that Stefanik's exit reveals a deeper GOP problem of overdependence on individuals: a vulnerability that is even more acute for New York Republicans running in a solidly Democratic-dominated state.