Stefanik’s Rise in House GOP Power Fueled by Loyalty to Trump
- Elected as a moderate, she previously touted bipartisanship
- Former president backing Stefanik to replace critic Cheney
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New York Republican Representative Elise Stefanik, who is poised to replace Wyoming’s Liz Cheney as chair of the House Republican conference, has risen in the party’s ranks largely through her recent loyalty to former President Donald Trump.
First elected as a moderate from upstate New York in 2014, Stefanik opposed Trump’s signature tax cut law. But she became one of Trump’s most vocal defenders when Democrats impeached him in 2019 over his allegations he pressured Ukraine to smear his then-likely rival President Joe Biden. Trump at the time labeled her a “new Republican Star.”