June 7, 2024
By Matthew Foldi
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) has risen to be one of the Republican party’s premiere power players, both on Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail, since her 2014 election.
A critical component of Stefanik’s success has been Elevate PAC (E-PAC), her leadership PAC, which spotlights conservative Republican women. “What I look for is fire in the belly, understanding their district, America First beliefs, and support for President Trump. That is the formula for winning these races in the primaries and generals,” she told the Washington Reporter.
Next week, Stefanik is formally rolling out her first endorsements of the 2024 cycle. She is backing Republican women from Alaska to Alabama to North Dakota to North Carolina. Some have already won their primaries, while others are still duking it out.
Stefanik is often the first Republican power player to weigh in on primaries across America, and the results speak for themselves. “In 2018 we were down to only 13 Republican women,” but following her investments, those numbers have soared. Now, the GOP has “the highest number ever [of women] who are Republicans currently serving today,” she said.
Since 2018, she’s given dozens of Republican women candidates access to her vast Rolodex of large and small dollar donors. She previewed next week’s endorsement event, giving the Reporter a sense of what to expect: “We highlight these candidates, we set up media interviews, which is very helpful for these candidates, get national recognition, and we introduce them to donors,” she said. “It will also start the launch of our digital fundraising program for these women candidates, which, over the past two cycles, with my donor list that I’ve developed, we’ve raised $10 million directly to these candidates in small dollar donors to help them build their list and raise awareness.”
Stefanik singled out several GOP candidates for praise, like former Rep. Yvette Herrell, who is up for a rematch against Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D., N.M.), who narrowly beat her in 2022, as well as former Rep. Mayra Flores, “[who’s in] a sleeper race for the mainstream media” in Texas’s 34th District, Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina’s 1st District, Alison Esposito in New York’s 18th District, Nancy Dahlstrom in Alaska’s at-large district, Monique DeSpain in Oregon’s 4th District, and Julie Fedorchak in North Dakota’s at-large district.
Stefanik was animated about Caroleene Dobson’s candidacy in Alabama. Following court-ordered redistricting, the state’s map was redrawn, giving Democrats a slight edge in the new 2nd District. Like Stefanik, Dobson is a (disappointed) Harvard alumna, who overcame odds, and a runoff, to win a male-dominated primary. Stefanik said she was “so proud of the race she’s running,” and called Dobson’s race “the sleeper of all the sleeper races that the media is not paying attention to.”
Alabama Republicans either outright won this new district, in Gov. Kay Ivy’s case, or lost it by the slimmest of margins, in Sen. Katie Britt’s case. “Those numbers,” Stefanik said, “only get better for us with Trump on the top of the ticket, and when you have an exceptional candidate like Caroleene Dobson who is just out there every day, it does remind me a lot of my first campaign. She’s going to win. She’s going to be a great member.”
Beyond backing GOP challengers, Stefanik said she will support “all of our incredible women who flipped those districts, from Ashley Hinson to Mariannette Miller-Meeks to Young Kim to Michelle Steele to Stephanie Bice” and beyond. All of these women ousted Democratic incumbents in 2020, an otherwise bad year for the GOP outside of House races.
While Stefanik’s political capital is usually spent on boosting Republican women, she has also delivered for New York state’s military bases and for its male Republican members of Congress. Democrats announced plans to invest tens of millions of dollars into New York races, where they plan to defend several incumbents and to oust at least four Republicans who sit in districts that President Joe Biden carried in 2020.
However, “we’re on pace to return every single New York incumbent, plus some of these targeted seats, like Alison Esposito,” Stefanik said, rejecting the premise that just because Biden carried a district in 2020, he will do so in 2024. Earlier this week, Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R., N.Y.) took to the pages of the Reporter to defend Trump from Manhattan’s overzealous prosecutor.
Her optimism goes beyond just her home state. President Trump, she said, “is a net gain on the ballot for every other Republican on the ballot.”
Stefanik’s New York’s 21st District has Fort Drum, the “home of the 10th Mountain Division, the most deployed division in the US Army since 9/11.” Stefanik has been one of its fiercest advocates, even hosting Trump in 2018 at the base, where he signed that year’s National Defense Authorization Act.
While Stefanik has been a consummate team player this cycle in political terms, having given at least $8 million directly to candidates, the NRCC, and assorted GOP committees, she’s given the GOP another gift. Questions she has posed in Congressional hearings to leaders of purportedly elite universities on their response to antisemitism in schools have kicked multiple college presidents from their ivory towers.
Forcing former Harvard University president Claudine Gay and former University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill out is not enough. Because, Stefanik noted, “it’s not just the university presidents. Yes, I forced out Liz McGill and Claudine Gay because of the questions. But,” Stefanik cautioned, “the rot goes deep, and we are working on all facets of this, defunding these universities who fail to protect Jewish students, going after DEI offices, which are inherently antisemitic, continuing the oversight and subpoenaing documents. If you think the hearing was a bombshell, wait until you see what’s in the documents. Even more bombshell, and that will be released by the chairwoman of that committee on a timeline later this year.”
Stefanik’s questions gave the GOP arguably its biggest win in the legislative branch since the Trump-era tax cuts — and even led to an attempt at comedy by Saturday Night Live, which Stefanik said she didn’t bother to watch in its entirety. “I have not watched the full set, but it is known as the worst cold open in the history of SNL. As the New York Post reported, the actress that was supposedly cast to play me pulled out of it after the dress rehearsal, because it was so disgraceful that they were basically propping up antisemitism in that sketch.”
After all, Stefanik has better things to do than watch alleged comedy. She is, however, “happy to shred these woke universities, happy to shred the woke SNL.”
Although pro-Hamas encampments mostly cleared out over summer break as students swapped keffiyehs for swimsuits, Stefanik warned that the battle is not over.
Across America, “the universities negotiated with pro-Hamas encampments at Harvard, Columbia and Northwestern — the list goes on. As soon as you negotiate with these pro-Hamas encampments, which is outrageous,” a dangerous precedent is set. “It’s not a question of when, they already have returned at a place like Columbia, for example, and that’s why there needs to be not just the presidents removed, but a deep, deep rooting out of this rot that has been allowed to occur on these college campuses.”
While “the media loves to attack” her for her staunch support for the former president, Stefanik said her support for Trump makes perfect sense.
“This goes back a long time when I was first running in 2014, this was the cycle that President Trump was considering running for governor, and I actually attended one of his rallies before he decided not to run for governor in Albany, in upstate New York,” she said. “It was the same time that I was launching my congressional campaign, and he was pushing back on the unconstitutional attacks on our Second Amendment rights in New York State. Fast forward to 2016 — I was viciously attacked by Democrats with hundreds of thousands of dollars of ads for being the only elected Republican woman in the northeast to support President Trump.”
The attacks against her continued after Trump’s election. “In 2018, I hosted him at Fort Drum to sign the National Defense Authorization Act,” she said. “That was a huge victory for his administration and for his leadership, as well as for my district. And then, of course, in 2019 I led the effort in exposing Adam Schiff and asking the most effective questions on the House Intelligence Committee, showing that this was a hoax and a witch hunt from the beginning. In 2020, I stood up proudly for election integrity,” which led to Harvard’s Institute of Politics kicking her off its advisory board.
Following the 2020 election, she “went on to defeat Liz Cheney, which was very important, to make sure that we have an America First House Republican Conference that’s working with President Trump on behalf of the American people.”
Almost immediately after the 2022 midterms, Stefanik endorsed Trump’s 2024 campaign. Her support for him continued throughout his legal woes, and she led in exposing the “corrupt judge” who presided over his felony trial. Stefanik said she was proud of her “leadership in terms of exposing this corrupt judge in New York, filing multiple ethics complaints, leading the filing which many of the other folks are now filing as well, but we were the leader in that respect.”
Stefanik also said she was deeply concerned about “this weaponization, illegal, unconstitutional weaponization of the courts against [Biden’s] leading political opponent,” which she called “Stalin-esque.” She will “use every tool available,” touting a series of”criminal referrals, for example, with Michael Cohen, the star witness for the corrupt prosecution,” and is also working with Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) to pressure Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg into testifying before Congress later this month.
After only ten years in office, during which she’s virtually become a household name, Stefanik has also become a role model to Republican women, young and old, across America. Her advice? “Don’t underestimate yourself.”
Below is a lightly edited transcript of the Washington Reporter’s interview with Rep. Elise Stefanik.
Washington Reporter:
What makes a female Republican candidate of E-PAC quality? What are your plans for these E-PAC candidates? Caroleene Dobson is viewed by some as the next Elise Stefanik, but who are you most excited about?
Elise Stefanik:
Let’s talk about how we got to where we are. Remember, in 2018 we were down to only 13 Republican women, and when I launched the women’s program of E-PAC, it was to increase that number. And in just two cycles, it has been a smashing success, with over 36 women — the highest number ever who are Republicans — currently serving today, and the focus from E-PAC is to continue to invest in those women candidates and incumbents, as well as to continue to grow those numbers.
So in addition to this slate, we’re also supporting all of our incredible women who flipped those districts, from Ashley Hinson to Mariannette Miller-Meeks to Young Kim to Michelle Steele to Stephanie Bice and we will continue to build our bench.
I’m excited to announce this first slate of this cycle, Yvette Herrell, who is running again in New Mexico’s 2nd District. She, of course, has served in Congress before. We think this is a prime pickup opportunity. She has broad support. She’s doing a great job. She knew what it takes to be an effective member. Mayra Flores in Texas’s 34th District, this is a sleeper race for the mainstream media. Mayra, of course, is from a border patrol family. She is the first Mexican-born woman ever to serve in the United States Congress and flip that seat in a special election. We believe that in a presidential year, particularly as the border crisis continues to rage, that we have an opportunity to pick up that seat, and she’s one of our top fundraisers. Alison Esposito, this is a seat that President Trump is pulling ahead in, as he is in every swing district across the country, but this is a very vulnerable, weak Democrat by the name of Pat Ryan, who votes 100 percent with Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, who is deeply out of touch with the residents of the Hudson Valley. And Alison Esposito is a former NYPD officer, born and raised in that district, and she’s running a great race. She was the lieutenant governor candidate on Lee Zeldin’s ticket. Nancy Dahlstrom, this is Alaska, a huge pickup opportunity for us, a state where President Trump does very well. We are supporting her. Laurie Buckhout, this is in North Carolina’s 1st District. New seat for redistricting. She is a veteran, a very successful small businesswoman, and this is going to be a top flip. Caroleene Dobson, I’m so proud of the race she’s running. This is the sleeper of all the sleeper races that the media is not paying attention to. This is a seat that the Republican governor won, that would be Kay Ivy. This is a seat that Katie Britt came within fewer than 1,000 votes of winning this congressional seat. Those numbers only get better for us with Trump on the top of the ticket, and when you have an exceptional candidate like Caroleene Dobson who is just out there every day, it does remind me a lot of my first campaign. She’s going to win. She’s going to be a great member. Julie Fedorchak, that’s North Dakota. I was proud to endorse her, and President Trump endorsed her, as well as Doug Burgum. She’s an energy expert. She will hit the ground running day one as an energy leader. And then Monique DeSpain in Oregon’s 4th, and as you see the crime crisis similar to New York, what’s happening in Oregon, that we have an opportunity to make inroads in.
So this E-PAC event on Tuesday is very exciting. We highlight these candidates, we set up media interviews, which is very helpful for these candidates, get national recognition, and we introduce them to donors. And it will also start the launch of our digital fundraising program for these women candidates, which, over the past two cycles, with my donor list that I’ve developed, we’ve raised $10 million directly to these candidates in small dollar donors to help them build their list and raise awareness. So our number of Republican women is only going to continue going up, and I’m proud that E-PAC is a driver of this. What I look for is fire in the belly, understanding their district, and America First support for President Trump. That is the winning formula for winning these races in the primaries and generals.
Washington Reporter:
When you started E-PAC, you were criticized, even by some Republicans, for weighing in on these primaries. Some of these women have already won their primaries. Some are on the cusp of winning. How has the party evolved in letting you be you, weighing in before others would be willing to?
Elise Stefanik:
I think it’s a testament to the leadership team working together, understanding that E-PAC has been a very important driver and pillar of this House majority of investing in those candidates very early on, so they have the resources and recognition to get through primaries and then win these districts in the general election. And we’re working together, and in many cases, I’m proud to be the first one to endorse these candidates, but it’s working as a team effort. So I appreciate my colleagues understanding the importance and the success story of E-PAC.
Washington Reporter:
Harvard kicked you off the board of the Institute of Politics for standing up for President Trump, and the media has pilloried you for it. It hasn’t stopped your star from rising even further. Talk us through some of the key moments that made you one of President Trump’s chief defenders in Congress.
Elise Stefanik:
This goes back a long time when I was first running in 2014, this was the cycle that President Trump was considering running for governor, and I actually attended one of his rallies before he decided not to run for governor in Albany, in upstate New York. It was the same time that I was launching my congressional campaign, and he was pushing back on the unconstitutional attacks on our Second Amendment rights in New York State. Fast forward to 2016 – I was viciously attacked by Democrats with hundreds of thousands of dollars of ads for being the only elected Republican woman in the northeast to support President Trump. In 2018, I hosted him at Fort Drum to sign the National Defense Authorization Act. That was a huge victory for his administration and for his leadership, as well as for my district. And then, of course, in 2019 I led the effort in exposing Adam Schiff and asking the most effective questions on the House Intelligence Committee, showing that this was a hoax and a witch hunt from the beginning. In 2020, I stood up proudly for election integrity and went on to defeat Liz Cheney, which was very important, to make sure that we have an America First House Republican Conference that’s working with President Trump on behalf of the American people. And then, of course, my leadership in terms of exposing this corrupt judge in New York, filing multiple ethics complaints, leading the filing which many of the other folks are now filing as well, but we were the leader in that respect. And then President Trump is also following my work on holding higher education accountable. As a Wharton grad, he has paid very close attention to the Penn, Harvard, and MIT hearings, as well as the others, and he has said publicly that that’s some of the most effective questioning ever in terms of really exposing the rot on the Left. I’m proud to have been a longtime supporter. The media loves to attack and rely on anonymous sources –
Washington Reporter:
Not at the Washington Reporter!
Elise Stefanik:
But President Trump knows I strongly support him, and I’m proud to be the first member to endorse his reelection, the first member of Congress, a Republican member, and I stay deeply in contact with voters in my district and across the country, and he is stronger than ever, and he’s going to win this November.
Washington Reporter:
New York is a battleground for Republicans. You were at the forefront of pushing back against the Democratic gerrymander. There are four of your colleagues in New York state alone who are in districts that Joe Biden carried. How do you make sure they win as well this November?
Elise Stefanik:
Well, you call them Biden districts, but the reality is, there’s not a single New York swing district where Biden is polling ahead. That’s why you’re not seeing the DCCC put out a single poll of any swing district, because Joe Biden is losing and Trump is winning in every single swing district, not just in New York, but across the country. That’s how much this has shifted. Districts that Biden won by nearly 20 points are now nearly double digits for Trump, and we won the gerrymander fight. When Democrats attempted to illegally gerrymander, we won it not once but twice. They tried again, and we were able to have fair lines. And what is important about that is Hakeem Jeffries and Democrats believe that their path to the majority is through New York state. My mission, and we’re on pace to return every single New York incumbent, plus some of these targeted seats, like Alison Esposito that I talked about. And then on top of this, Matthew, as I’ve said to all of the Republican candidates, President Trump is a net gain on the ballot for every other Republican on the ballot. Trump is within six points in New York state. Those are catastrophic numbers for Joe Biden, so when President Trump does events in New York and gets thousands of people to show up in New York City in support, that’s a nine alarm fire for Democrats. We’re gonna win and hold this majority and show strong support for President Trump.
Washington Reporter:
You led the charge on stopping the illegal gerrymander. You led the charge in exposing Judge Juan Merchan. How do you feel about President Trump’s chances, given the conviction in New York? Have you seen a surge in your own fundraising, and what should House Republicans do to respond to this?
Elise Stefanik:
We need to use every tool available. I have done criminal referrals, for example, with Michael Cohen, the star witness for the corrupt prosecution. This is the same individual that perjured himself before Congress, is a convicted felon. I’m working with Jim Jordan in terms of Matthew Colangelo, who is the former Biden senior DOJ official, who was sent to work with Alvin Bragg. We’re calling Colangelo and Bragg to appear later this month. If they do not do that voluntarily, then of course, there will be follow-up action that I’ll be working with Jim Jordan to announce at the appropriate time. The funding mechanisms, making sure that we defund all of this illegal lawfare that’s happening with these rogue prosecutors. And there’s a lot to uncover, and we need that House Republican majority to uncover this. So there’s a lot that is going to happen in terms of when we have the Republican Senate and the Trump administration, we’re going to uncover just truly how deep and how far to the top, all the way up to Joe Biden, this weaponization, illegal, unconstitutional weaponization of the courts against his leading political opponent, goes. It is Stalin-esque what the Democrats are doing, attempting to imprison the leading candidate for president of the United States.
Washington Reporter:
If the election were today, it looks like Trump would win. If Donald Trump wins, if House Republicans and Senate Republicans win, would you try to get big policy changes in that lame-duck period with Biden still in the White House, or would you rather wait until President Trump comes back next January?
Elise Stefanik:
Our top priority is working with President Trump on behalf of the American people in terms of how best to secure his agenda, whether that’s securing the border, whether that’s unleashing American energy independence, whether that’s bringing back peace through strength, delivering government accountability, as well as growing our economy, curbing inflation. And we’ll be working very closely with President Trump on the timelines, which will ensure that he is the most effective which he will be on day one, and I’m proud to be among his strongest allies in the first one in the House to endorse his reelection.
Washington Reporter:
Given those topics you just said, it seems safe to say you don’t have a willing partner in the White House right now, on inflation, border security, strong foreign policy?
Elise Stefanik:
Listen, Joe Biden created all these crises. Compare where we were with the economy, with peace through strength, national security issues, and secure border under President Trump, to where we are today. Joe Biden created the border crisis. He created Bidenflation. He created chaos and multiple wars around the world. His lack of leadership led to the fact that Israel had the deadliest day since the Holocaust on October 7. He created this spike in energy prices, this ban on American energy. LNG, for example. So this is all on Joe Biden’s watch. That’s why it’s offensive to the American people when the Biden administration and the Biden campaign are trying to convince them otherwise, the American people are smart. They can compare Trump to Biden, and Trump wins overwhelmingly.
Washington Reporter:
You are responsible for one of the GOP’s biggest legislative successes, in exposing the rot of antisemitism in major universities. What was it like having Saturday Night Live mock you while ignoring the actual things that should be mocked?
Elise Stefanik:
I have not watched the full clip, but you know, it is known as the worst cold open in the history of SNL. As the New York Post reported, the actress that was supposedly cast to play me pulled out of it after the dress rehearsal, because it was so disgraceful that they were basically propping up antisemitism in that sketch. So, happy to shred these woke universities, happy to shred the woke SNL, which is increasingly out of touch with people across this country who understand that this rise of antisemitism is a very, very serious issue, harkening back to the 1930s, precursors of the Holocaust. So I will continue to lead on this moral issue. And if you look at Democrats across this country who care deeply, they are shifting to Republicans because of this antisemitism crisis and just the failure of moral leadership on these college campuses, particularly the “elite,” although I like when President Trump says they’re no longer elite, he’s right, and today’s Democrat Party. The thing about the colleges, though, is it’s not just the university presidents. Yes, I forced out Liz McGill and Claudine Gay because of the questions. But the rot goes deep, and we are working on all facets of this, defunding these universities that fail to protect Jewish students, going after DEI offices, which are inherently antisemitic, continuing the oversight, and subpoenaing documents. If you think the hearing was a bombshell, wait until you see what’s in the documents. Even more bombshell, and that will be released by the chairwoman of that committee on a timeline later this year.
Washington Reporter:
What is it like for you as an alumna of Harvard University who was so publicly dumped from the Institute of Politics advisory board? What was it like for you to kind of strike the most significant blow against your alma mater in recent years?
Elise Stefanik:
Well, first of all, I am standing up for what’s morally right, and I’m standing up for protections of Jewish students, and these schools have lost their way. The fact that Harvard has to morally equivocate and chose to side with the pro-Hamas encampments is a disgrace. I was the first member of my immediate family to have the opportunity to graduate from college, that was something that was a big step for my family, and I’m proud of that, but I’m also proud of standing up for my values, which I was raised with, and people are looking for moral leadership. Harvard has failed. Harvard has failed in so many ways. They know it. The world knows it. And this accountability is long overdue.
Washington Reporter:
Do you anticipate these jihadist encampments returning to campus in the fall, Harvard or anywhere else? Or do you feel like you guys have scared them away?
Elise Stefanik:
Well, first of all, the universities negotiated with pro-Hamas encampments at Harvard, Columbia, and Northwestern, the list goes on. As soon as you negotiate with these pro-Hamas encampments, which is outrageous, these universities need to enforce the rules, enforce protections of Jewish students, enforce the rules that the university sets forth. So it’s not a question of when, they already have returned at a place like Columbia, for example, and that’s why there needs to be not just the presidents removed, but a deep, deep rooting out of this rot that has been allowed to occur on these college campuses. The other piece that’s important of this is the tenured professors, the fact that 99 percent of the tenured faculty at Columbia, Harvard, Penn supported these presidents and their antisemitism and failed leadership. There is a deep problem when you have this type of radical group think on the Left.
Washington Reporter:
What priorities do you have for the military this legislative year?
Elise Stefanik:
When I talked about President Trump signing the National Defense Authorization Act, it was at Fort Drum, home of the 10th Mountain Division, the most deployed division in the US Army since 9/11. I’m very excited that we just passed an appropriations bill that continues to move forward on the process of an East Coast missile defense site, also what was just added to my district with redistricting, is the Rome Air Force Research Lab, which is a leading research defense facility focused on quantum, focused on cyber security, counter-UAS. The most cutting edge technologies are led out of New York State, as well as our men and women in uniform. So when we talk about this chaos and catastrophe around the world because of Joe Biden’s failed foreign policy, it has a deep impact on military families in my district. The funding piece is important, as well as all the work in the National Defense Authorization Act, supporting Fort Drum, supporting our arctic training, as well as the work that I’m doing in cyber, quantum, related to Rome Air Force Research Lab.
Washington Reporter:
Young Republican women, including many who work for you, look up to you as a role model for how they can be successful in politics. What advice would you give to a young Elise Stefanik and to other Republican women who see you as someone they want to aspire to be like down the road?
Elise Stefanik:
Don’t underestimate yourself. When I ran for Congress 10 years ago, having had the grit and the fire in the belly to challenge the assumptions, and to work very hard to run the best race I could, and to really get to know voters, was so helpful. Whether you’re a candidate or want to serve in different ways, just continue to challenge yourself and bring your ideas to the table. And don’t be worried about doing things a little bit differently than everybody else. For example, in that committee hearing, asking a different type of moral question, that led to the most watched testimony in the history of the United States Congress. I’m honored to serve as a role model. It’s humbling to me, and I’m excited to have so many amazing young women who work on our team, who are just so important every day in our operation. That means a lot to me, and I hope E-PAC is also an inspiration to so many other women who maybe are not sure if they want to run, but they feel they’ll have the support if they run.
Washington Reporter:
Thanks for the time, Congresswoman Stefanik.
