The House GOP Conference needs someone with “experience flipping districts blue to red,” former President Donald Trump said Monday, hailing Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., as the replacement chair for “warmonger” Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.
“We need someone in leadership who has experience flipping districts from blue to red as we approach the important 2022 midterms, and that’s Elise!” Trump wrote in a statement on his Save America PAC website Monday.
“She knows how to win, which is what we need!”
Trump has helped lead an effort to get Cheney stripped from her leadership role because she has little support among Republicans in the House and had sided with Democrats on impeachment of the former president.
“The House GOP has a massive opportunity to upgrade this week from warmonger Liz Cheney to gifted communicator Elise Stefanik,” Trump’s statement began. “Elise has intelligence, an endorsement from American Patriot Brandon Judd and the National Border Patrol Council, she has an A+ from the NRA, and she loves our Veterans.”
Stefanik, 36, was a key member of the House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry team during the first impeachment of then-President Trump. She also serves the North Country district of one of the largest blue states in the U.S., having flipped New York’s 21st Congressional District from Democrats, widely defeating Aaron Woolf in 2014 after ex-Rep. Bill Owens, D-N.Y., did not run for reelection.
Stefanik, then 30, was the youngest women in history elected to Congress.
While some have pointed to a less conservative voting record than Cheney, Stefanik backers have noted her more moderate voting record was not only reflective of her district’s interests but it has also been trending more conservative of late, particularly with regard to the Trump America First/MAGA agenda.
