The youngest woman in American history to be elected to the House of Representatives was called a “moderate” less than 10 years ago. Today, Elise Stefanik describes herself on Twitter as an “ultra-MAGA, and proud of it.” The representative from a district bordering Quebec has become an influential figure in the Republican Party.
Elise Stefanik
- Republican
- Representative in the House of Representatives
- 21e New York district
- Age: 40 years old
- First elected in 2014
- Seat at stake in November elections
Why are we talking about it
The 40-year-old politician has been seen for several months as a potential running mate for Donald Trump – without being the most likely candidate according to analysts, she remains the woman best positioned to access it. The representative of the 21e New York’s upstate district is among the highest-ranking Republicans in the House, serving as a member of the party’s leadership. She made the ticket Time of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2024.
Elise Stefanik also represents a widespread phenomenon in Republican ranks: initially critical of Donald Trump, she became a fierce ally after his victory in the 2016 presidential election.
Course
Elise Stefanik was born in Albany on July 2, 1984. The eldest of two children, the Harvard graduate joined President George W. Bush’s staff in 2006 as an aide, including a domestic policy advisor. She spent three years in the White House, and worked on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.
What did she take away from the Republican defeat? A lack of inclusiveness and openness in the party, she wrote in a report.
She was elected in 2014, at the age of 30. Her two-year term was renewed five times by voters. She then rose through the ranks, reaching the party’s fourth position in the House in 2021, as head of the elected officials’ organization.
Turning point
“What stands out to me is his rapid rise to become such a national figure in the Republican Party,” said Harvey Schantz, a professor in the political science department at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh.
Elise Stefanik worked hard in the House, serving on several committees and caucuses, including on education and military service. But one event thrust her into the public eye: her support for Donald Trump during his 2019 impeachment proceedings.
“A new Republican star,” Donald Trump tweeted at the time – a significant public recognition, noted by his base, which allowed the young politician to amass 3.2 million US donors in three months in 2019, according to the BBC.
Controversies
Critics accuse the politician of changing her mind with the political wind.
“Donald Trump’s inappropriate and offensive comments are reprehensible,” Stefanik said in October 2016, when his comments about women to a talk show hostAccess Hollywood had been made public. However, she became a major supporter after his election, going so far as to support unfounded allegations of electoral fraud.
“She saw that her voters supported Trump and that it was politically prudent to support him,” Schantz said.
His comments about “illegal immigrants” who would be naturalized to allow “radical democrats” to obtain a permanent majority also earned him accusations of promoting the supremacist theory of the “great replacement.”
Feats of arms
Stefanik is also known for her advocacy for women’s political work. She created a political action committee to help recruit Republican candidates, promoting their candidacies and funding them. “She was able to increase the number of Republican women in the House of Representatives, and that brought her even more notoriety,” Schantz notes.
The number of Republican women elected to the House of Representatives hit a record high in 2022, rising to 32. Democratic women remain proportionally more numerous.
She was also one of 47 Republican representatives who voted in favor of a law allowing same-sex marriage.
With the BBC, NPR and The Washington Post