All posts tagged "Elise Stefanik"

Rep. Elise Stefanik's short-lived bid to be the Republican governor of New York wasn't a long-planned campaign for higher office. According to a New York Republican who knows her well, it was a tantrum.

A plugged-in New York Republican told Politico's Ben Jacobs in a piece published Friday that Stefanik launched her run for governor "almost out of spite" after President Donald Trump yanked her U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations nomination.

Stefanik had given up her House leadership post and her seat on the House Intelligence Committee to prepare for the UN role. She let staff go. She waited. Then Trump, citing the GOP's razor-thin House majority and concerns about a special election in her district, pulled the plug on the nomination in March 2025....

Rumors have surfaced that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is anticipated to lose the GOP's House majority, an MS Now analyst reported Wednesday.

After the unexpected death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) and serious car crash involving Rep. Jim Baird (R-IN), who was hospitalized and expected to recover — but will not be available for upcoming votes — the Republican majority is hanging in the balance, according to Steve Benen, producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show."

"LaMalfa’s death leaves House Speaker Mike Johnson with a 218-member conference — in a chamber where 218 is the bare minimum for a majority," Benen explained....

Republicans have quietly started to talk about removing House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), according to a report.

Johnson has been criticized by fellow Republicans and rival Democrats in recent weeks — and now the GOP majority has shown signs it's unhappy with him, The Atlantic reported Tuesday.

"Johnson’s own members, in the past month, have accused him of stretching if not wholly disregarding the truth, and his assertion last Wednesday that he has a firm grip on power was correct only in the most technical sense," according to The Atlantic. ...

Donald Trump may have complicated the campaign trail for a GOP hopeful by meeting with Zohran Mamdani, according to a political commentator.

The president would call the New York City mayor elect a "really good" candidate for the job, with a flood of compliments from Trump surprising political commentators. Nick Reisman, writing in Politico, believes the impression Mamdani made on the president, and Trump's subsequent comments, puts the gubernational bid of Elise Stefanik at risk.

Rep. Stefanik is building her campaign against Governor Kathy Hochul but Reisman believes Trump has blown Stefanik's chances out of the water by heaping praise onto Mamdani. ...

The political world erupted Friday after President Donald Trump publicly rejected GOP claims that New York mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani is a “jihadist” – a moment that immediately blew up Rep. Elise Stefanik’s central campaign message in the New York governor’s race.

And Washington insiders, journalists, and even Stefanik herself quickly chimed in online, as the New York Republican doubled down on her claim just minutes after the Oval Office exchange went viral.

"We all want NYC to succeed,” Stefanik wrote Friday on X. “But we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. If he walks like a jihadist If he talks like a jihadist If he campaigns like a jihadist If he supports jihadists, He’s a jihadist. And he’s @KathyHochul’s jihadist.”...

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), one of GOP House leadership's most dedicated MAGA loyalists, announced her bid for governor of New York this week — but not a lot of Democrats and anti-Trump figures reacted to the news with particular fear.

"Kathy Hochul is the Worst Governor in America," Stefanik posted in her announcement on X. "Under her failed leadership, New York is the most unaffordable state in the nation with the highest taxes, highest energy, utilities, rent, and grocery bills. When New Yorkers were looking for leadership from our Governor, she bent the knee to the raging Defund the Police, Tax Hiking Communist causing catastrophe for New York families. I am running for Governor to make New York affordable and safe FOR ALL."

This announcement was met with derision from many of her opponents, including Hochul herself....