In a matter of days, relative newcomer Rep. Elise Stefanik could ascend into the House Republican leadership by a vote of the GOP conference.
Stefanik, elected to the House in 2014 at age 30, is poised to succeed Rep. Liz Cheney as the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, according to lawmakers and Republican aides familiar with a planned vote as early as Wednesday.
It’s the No. 3 House GOP leadership position, and lawmakers have grown frustrated with Cheney, whose vocal opposition to former President Donald Trump and views on the party agenda have put her increasingly at odds with the rank-and-file in her party who want to present a unified front ahead of the critical 2022 midterm elections.
Stefanik this week swooped in quickly to begin securing enough support to succeed Cheney, and she has the coveted public endorsement of House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, as well as the unspoken backing of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, aides say. Both McCarthy and Scalise are staunch Trump allies, and Trump himself endorsed Stefanik in a statement this week.
But there’s pushback from some on the Right, who say that Stefanik’s voting record has not been conservative enough and at times has bucked Trump on key issues, including whether to certify all of the 2020 presidential election results and ending Trump’s border wall emergency declaration.
It’s not clear whether the complaints will amount to enough opposition to derail Stefanik, but they highlight continued strife within the GOP as it struggles to define itself in the post-Trump era.
Influential conservative blogger Ryan James Girdusky, no fan of Cheney, denounced the ascension of Stefanik, who he called “a swamp creature,” on Twitter. He noted that she switched her vote from challenging the Arizona presidential election results on Jan. 6 to accepting those results.
Conservatives also say Stefanik’s voting record is not conservative enough. Stefanik voted to override Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act, for example, and split with Trump on several other key measures. She voted with the president about 67% of the time, according to an analysis by the website FiveThirtyEight.
Some conservatives have quietly justified Stefanik as a temporary replacement for the embattled Cheney, who may be succeeded by a more conservative lawmaker in the next Congress, when Republicans are poised to be in the majority. But critics warn once she’s elected, Stefanik has secured a more permanent place at the leadership table.
“If Stefanik goes into leadership, she’s staying there, which means the GOP will have one of their most liberal congressman in charge of messaging for the party,” Girdusky tweeted.
The conservative Club for Growth is lobbying to block Stefanik’s ascension into leadership.
The organization provided a list of key voting offenses by Stefanik that they say make her ill-equipped to lead the conservative House GOP conference.
Among them, Stefanik voted against the 2017 tax cuts that are now the signature achievement of the GOP and the Trump administration.
Stefanik was among those who opposed a provision in the tax cut legislation that put a cap on state and local tax deductions, which hurt residents in high-tax blue states such as New York.
Stefanik also voted against measures aimed at keeping the United States out of the Paris climate agreement and was among the lawmakers to vote to override Trump’s policy banning transgender people from the military.
“House Republicans should not coronate U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik to be chair of the House Republican Conference,” Club for Growth President David McIntosh told the Washington Examiner. “Instead, Club for Growth calls on House Republicans to conduct an open race for this important position in the House Republican Leadership so that a conservative can have a seat at the leadership table, which will excite the conservative base with consensus conservative messaging and allow House Republicans the opportunity to win back the majority in 2022.”
While some House Republicans are grumbling Stefanik’s sudden springboard into the leadership ranks, others see her as a lawmaker who can unify the different factions in the conference.
“She strikes the right balance,” an aide for a conservative Republican on the leadership team told the Washington Examiner.
Stefanik is the polar opposite of Cheney when it comes to Trump.
While Cheney openly despised the former president, voted to impeach him, and called on the party to shun his involvement based on his actions leading up to and following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Stefanik continues to embrace the former president.
Stefanik served as a key member of Trump’s informal team of lawmakers who provided daily briefings to the media during the president’s first impeachment trial. She was praised for her articulate and unwavering defense of the president, who hasn’t forgotten it.
“We want leaders who believe in the Make America Great Again movement, and prioritize the values of America First,” Trump said in a statement this week. “Elise Stefanik is a far superior choice, and she has my COMPLETE and TOTAL endorsement for GOP Conference Chair. Elise is a tough and smart communicator!”
Stefanik continues to endorse Trump’s policies and said the GOP cannot succeed without the coalition of voters who still support him.
“We are growing the party, and we are building off the Make America Great Again movement,” Stefanik said Thursday on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast.
Stefanik’s embrace of Trump may help the more conservative lawmakers look past her less conservative voting record.
One top aide to a leading conservative lawmaker in the House told the Washington Examiner, “President Trump backs Elise Stefanik. So every Republican should back Elise Stefanik. She’s full on MAGA. Period.”
