Stefanik’s political evolution mirrors story of right now’s GOP – KIRO 7 Information Seattle

NEW YORK – (AP) – Not so long ago, Elise Stefanik did not say Donald Trump’s name.

He was just “my party’s presidential candidate,” she would say. The pragmatic New York Congresswoman was much more focused on welcoming a new generation of voters into what she thought was a more inclusive Republican Party.

Today, Stefanik is one of Trump’s toughest defenders in the House of Representatives, where her loyalty to the former president – and the support he’s returned – has put the 36-year-old on the verge of one of the most powerful women in Congress. She is widely expected to become the third-tier Republican in the House of Representatives in the coming days when MP Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Is stripped of her leadership position over her vocal criticism of Trump.

Stefan’s rise has to do with her commitment to bringing more Republican women to Congress. This has helped make House GOP’s first grader class one of the most diverse in history in 2021. But those close to Stefanik suggest that there is one moment above all that solidifies their political transformation and rise in republican politics – and that moment had little to do with diversity.

It was a Thursday evening in November 2019 and Trump’s first impeachment investigation was raging on Capitol Hill. Stefanik had emerged as a leading Trump defense attorney in committee hearings, but that night she first brought her message to Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

After attacking the Democrats’ impeachment case, she asked Fox viewers to send money to a website designed to protect them from a growing wave of political attack.

She had raised $ 250,000 in 15 minutes, Aides later tweeted. The next morning several hundred thousand more poured into their campaign. Her team had never seen anything like it, according to people with direct knowledge of the way they work who spoke about disclosing private discussions on condition of anonymity.

The snowball grew the next day when Trump went on “Fox and Friends” and praised Stefanik. It grew even more weeks later when Trump highlighted her during a White House event when he crowed over beating impeachment.

In total, Stefanik raised more than $ 13 million in this cycle, almost twice the amount raised in her last three elections. She raised an additional $ 2 million for Republican candidates and put together what her office now describes as one of the top five donor email lists among 212 Republicans in the House.

She never wavered to support Trump again.

Even when the employees encouraged her privately to moderate her message in the following weeks, Stefanik leaned more towards Trumpism. Her team began regularly insulting critics and reporters on social media. Their transformation was complete when Stefanik, a former White House adviser to President George W. Bush and an admirer of former Speaker of Parliament Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Voted against confirming the 2020 election results, even after a violent mob hit the U.S. Capitol had stormed on Jan. 1 6.

Stefan’s evolution is the story of the modern Republican Party, which has come to believe that the path to power and success in fundraising is through Trump, whether party members like him or not. Some Republicans, including Cheney, have resisted his influence, but the vast majority have joined, despite Trump continuing to spread the same disinformation about the 2020 election that inspired the January 6 uprising.

Trump “was our strongest supporter of a president when it comes to standing up for the constitution,” Stefanik said last week on former Trump aide Steve Bannon’s podcast “War Room”.

In the same interview, she again questioned the integrity of the 2020 elections, despite senior Trump administration officials and dozens of judges across the country discrediting allegations of widespread electoral fraud.

Those who have worked closely with Stefanik describe her as a hardworking, smart, and disciplined ambassador who persistently tries to motivate Republican voters and set the terms of the debate.

After graduating from Harvard University in 2006, she became a political advisor to the Bush White House. When the 2012 presidential election hit, she was a respected political agent with strong ties to the Republican establishment. She joined the short-lived presidential campaign of former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty before working for Mitt Romney, the party’s presidential candidate against Democratic incumbent Barack Obama.

After the election, Stefanik von Washington moved into her parents’ home in New York State, facing the US House of Representatives, which remained open due to the resignation of Democrat Bill Owens. 30-year-old Stefanik won the race and became the youngest woman ever to be elected to Congress at the time.

It found success with a moderate message aimed at attracting a new generation of voters to the Republican Party.

Jeff Graham, the former mayor of Watertown, New York, recalls meeting the fresh-faced Stefanik a year before the election. He quickly became a supporter.

At first I said, ‘Who the hell is she?’ I went on Google and couldn’t find out much about them, ”he said. “Although she was young, she had a rich background – being in the Bush White House and being friends with Paul Ryan.”

In her early years in Congress, Stefanik gained the reputation of a hardworking moderator who stayed close to her district, a vast rural area in New York State bordered by western Vermont and northern Canada. She paid special attention to Fort Drum.

“She put politics aside,” said Carl Zeilman, chairman of the Saratoga County Republican Committee. “She knows how to roll up her sleeves and get things done.”

On her first re-election test in 2016, she hesitated to hug Trump. She initially supported the offer made by the President of Ohio, John Kasich.

The decision to support the Ohio presenter was in line with her vote. Stefanik has a 48% lifetime rating from conservative Heritage Action for America and 35% from Club for Growth, one of the lowest grades for House Republicans.

In late spring 2016, when Trump emerged as the alleged GOP presidential candidate, the local press noted that it refused to say Trump’s name and only promised to “support my party’s candidate in the fall”.

Stefanik became a louder Trump supporter as the election approached, but she regularly reminded voters that she disagreed with him at times. She described his remarks on the video about sexual assault on women as “offensive” and “simply wrong”.

She continued to warm to Trump after he took office. She also formed a political action committee, Elevate PAC, to bring more Republican women to Congress. She was widely praised for efforts last fall, when 18 of the 30 women she supported won.

One of them was Rep. Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Iowa, who says she was in constant communication with Stefanik during her election. In addition to providing strategic guidance and moral support, Stefanik also helped connect Hinson to her network of donors and political contacts in Washington.

“It was an important and very important year for the GOP to tell the story that we were a group of women, minorities and veterans,” said Hinson. “And Elise had a great hand with it.”

Trump was impressed too.

While Cheney’s conservative ratings are far superior to Stefanik, Trump last week called Cheney “a bellicose fool who has nothing to do with Republican party leadership.”

“Elise Stefanik is a vastly superior choice and she has my FULL and ENTIRE endorsement for the chair of the GOP conference,” he said in a written statement. “Elise is a tough and smart communicator!”

Back in New York State, longtime supporters noticed Stefanik’s development.

Graham, the former mayor of Watertown, admitted that Stefanik has become more “Trumpian,” but like many other rural Republicans, he’s generally happy with the way their careers have gone.

“Our members of Congress up here didn’t have much time on the national stage,” said Graham. “We are proud of most of it.”

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Washington associate press writer Alan Fram contributed to this report.