The installation of Rep. Elise Stefanik as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference was intended to put the focus back on combating President Joe Biden’s agenda rather than relitigating former President Donald Trump. But Democrats, and some in the media, are not going to make it easy to move on.
In the immediate aftermath of Stefanik’s election, many pointed out that the New York Republican has lower ratings from national conservative groups than either Cheney or Rep. Chip Roy, the Texas lawmaker she defeated en route to becoming the third-ranking Republican in the House.
Specifically, Stefanik has a lifetime American Conservative Union rating of 44% to Cheney’s 78% and Roy’s 95%. Heritage Action scored Stefanik’s voting record at 48% to Roy’s 96%. Stefanik was more supportive of Trump’s 2020 election claims than either Cheney or Roy and received the former president’s endorsement in the leadership race.
Shortly before her removal as conference chairwoman, Trump blasted Cheney as “a poor leader, a major Democrat talking point, a warmonger, and a person with absolutely no personality or heart.” He later added that she was “a bitter, horrible human being” who would soon be a “Paid Contributor on CNN or MSDNC,” the latter a reference to the cable news network MSNBC.
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Trump later said he couldn’t “imagine” House Republicans would elect Roy, who he said “has not done a great job, and will probably be successfully primaried in his own district.” He concluded, “I support Elise, by far, over Chip!”
“This does keep the spotlight on Trump, which he is an expert in doing,” said a Republican strategist. “It will be up to Elise, and the rest of the leadership team, to shine the light where it belongs.”
Stefanik was elected in large part because she is viewed as an effective television communicator who is a team player with good message discipline. These characteristics are viewed as assets as the GOP seeks to wipe out narrow Democratic majorities to win back control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections.
Cheney’s vote to impeach Trump was accepted as an act of conscience by most of the Republican conference when there was a previous attempt to oust her earlier this year, closer to the events of Jan. 6. She began to hemorrhage support, including from fellow members of leadership, as Republicans concluded she was unable to move on from Trump as the midterm elections approached.
But the clear political upside of Stefanik’s embrace of Trump, who has continued to claim the 2020 election was rigged against him or even stolen, has opened up obvious lines of attack for Democrats. It also raises questions about whether internal GOP pushback against what Trump is saying, which could serve to keep Stefanik and company talking about Trump.
“They’ll need to be very savvy in how they deal with this,” said a Republican consultant in Washington, D.C. “The press will try to bait them into talking about Trump as much as Liz Cheney, just from the opposite direction.”
Further complicating the party’s Trump calculus is the fact that he is keeping open the possibility of running again in 2024 in hopes of becoming the first president to serve nonconsecutive terms since Grover Cleveland. He has remained an active commentator on public events large and small, weighing in Friday on the television punditry of Republican operative and longtime George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove, issuing statements through his office and political action committee that are reminiscent of his banned Twitter account.
“Democrats want the 2022 elections to be about Trump,” said the Republican consultant. “We don’t, or at least shouldn’t.”
Democratic leaders hailed Cheney as a martyr sacrificed for Trump. “It’s disturbing to see any leader regardless of party being attacked for simply speaking the truth, and as the president said last week, it’s hard to understand,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called her removal a “dark moment” for Republicans and said she “had the courage to tell the truth.”
“Congresswoman Liz Cheney is a leader of great courage, patriotism, and integrity. Today, House Republicans declared that those values are unwelcome in the Republican party,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement after the GOP conference vote. “For the sake of our democracy, reasonable Republicans across the country must take back their party.”
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The leadership vote came as Republicans were trying to block the Democrats’ sweeping election reform bill, which has been taken up by the Senate, and negotiate with the Biden administration on an infrastructure package.
Trump remains a unifying figure for Democrats in opposition. “He is the glue that holds the coalition together,” said a Democratic strategist, referring to the range of suburbanites to Bernie Sanders supporters who voted for Biden last year.
