Elise Stefanik, a Rising GOP Leader

Stefanik, elected in 2014 as a moderate, represents a sprawling upstate district that voted twice for Barack Obama before voting twice for Trump. Her rise in the party can be tied directly to her support for Trump. She staunchly defended him during the first impeachment proceedings in 2019, prompting him to declare that “a star is born.” After the House impeached Trump, she was among eight GOP members the administration tapped to defend him in the media during his Senate trial. Earlier this year she supported Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The Harvard graduate got the chair because Trump is a fan, but also because she’s been active in trying to get more Republican women elected to the House. In 2018 she scuffled with the Republican National Congressional Committee for not endorsing primary candidates, arguing that the long-standing policy was keeping its ranks from becoming more equal. Recently she’s criticized Democrats for spending on what she describes as far-left social programs and President Joe Biden for the haphazard withdrawal from Afghanistan. Political observers have also speculated that she could be a candidate for governor of New York in 2022.