NEW YORK — A rising New York Republican Party gaining ground in the Democratic-dominated state will soon have to fill an Elise Stefanik-sized hole at the helm.
Stefanik has no formal title in the Republican Party but serves as de facto leader. And the power broker’s expected departure from New York’s political scene will likely pose a challenge for Republicans, given her considerable political, fundraising and media prowess.
The woman nominated to become Donald Trump’s U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is the same one who has raised $40 million this year alone for herself and her colleagues, who has been catapulted to national prominence for criticizing university presidents for anti-Semitism and who is risen from the youngest chosen woman. to Congress in 2014, at age 30, to become the fourth-highest-ranking member of the House GOP.
Stefanik will be confirmed to the Senate, which will soon be controlled by Republicans. If confirmed, her days of active political action will be behind her as she begins a new chapter as a top State Department official bound by the rules of the Hatch Act.
If New York Republicans want to maintain her political momentum — and fend off state Democrats who flipped four seats in the House of Representatives this year — they will have to move quickly to take up her mantle.
“We have to pick up the ball and continue the work that she has done and do everything we can do to strengthen our party,” New York Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt said in an interview, adding that “certain types of Republicans are coming out of New York,” the ones being tested by the Democrats in the majority.
The political void left by Stefanik will not be the only one Republicans will have to fill as a result of the migration to the new Trump administration. The Republican Party in Florida will have to replace Senator Marco Rubio, Trump’s choice of secretary of state, and Representative Matt Gaetz, who resigned his seat in the House of Representatives almost immediately after the president-elect chose him as attorney general. In South Dakota, Governor Kristi Noem is about to leave her seat to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
In New York, Stefanik has raised her party’s profile just as she has her own — as a prolific fundraiser, through a PAC focused on female Republican candidates and with a combative defense of Trump.
Upstate Rep. Nick Langworthy, a former state party chairman, and Rep. Claudia Tenney, who also represents upstate, could step into the leadership role that Stefanik would leave behind, several New York GOP members told POLITICO. And representatives of Secretaries of State Mike Lawler and Nicole Malliotakis, both fixtures on the cable news circuit, could increase their influence in her wake, members said.
State Commission Chairman Ed Cox said continuing the fight would be a team effort. Langworthy, Tenney, Lawler and Malliotakis are “common-sense legislators” who are giving Republicans a boost — and strong county and state parties are helping, he said in an interview.
Stefanik, who represents a portion of New York state stretching from the Canadian border to just south of Albany, will by no means be erased from the Empire State’s political firmament. She is expected to lift her home state GOP from the outside — even though she will be severely limited in what she can do.
“Her success at the U.N., tackling anti-Semitism, as she has done against college presidents, does more for our party in getting our candidates across the finish line than anything she can do politically,” said Joe Borelli, minority leader of the City Council. New York, to POLITICO. “Showing New York voters what Republican success looks like and what Republican strength looks like will do more for us than anything she has done before.”
Under Hatch Act rules, Stefanik could not raise money as a government official and could only make political speeches in a personal capacity, said ethics expert Richard Painter, who served as an official in President George W. Bush’s administration.
“We don’t want a repeat of the situation we had with the foreign minister [Mike] Pompeo gave that speech at the RNC convention, zooming in from the Wailing Wall,” Painter told POLITICO.
Stefanik is a fierce critic of the UN, who has called for a “complete reassessment of US funding” to the entity. The House member accepted Trump’s nomination with praise for the incoming president, saying in a statement: “The work ahead is enormous as we see anti-Semitism skyrocket coupled with four years of catastrophically weak American leadership.” that has significantly weakened our national security and diminished our standing in the world. eyes of both allies and opponents.”
Stefanik is not the only one leaving the Republican Party’s political apparatus in New York for Trump. The president-elect also tapped former Long Island House member Lee Zeldin to lead the EPA. Zeldin came within six points of ousting Governor Kathy Hochul in 2022, a good year for New York Republicans — and one when they also turned four seats in the New York House red.
Stefanik and Zeldin have been a visible and vocal presence across the state and country this election year. Both are fiercely loyal Trump allies, and both voted to overturn the 2020 election results.
Their colleagues were proud to have served fellow New Yorkers in the Trump administration, even as some said the country’s gain could be the state’s loss.
“As New Yorkers, they know how to fight in the toughest conditions,” Langworthy said. “And they will play an important role in carrying out his vision for a strong America, both here at home and on the world stage.”
Langworthy and Tenney did not comment on their names being floated as Stefanik’s political successors in New York.
In addition, several Republicans are wondering whether they should throw their hat in the ring for the special election for Stefanik’s seat in the state, which will take place between 70 and 90 days after Hochul is formally notified that a vacancy will arise. The district is considered safely Republican, but Democrats will be taking a gamble given the slim margin in the House of Representatives.
Potential Republican Party candidates include outgoing Reps. Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams, who lost reelection bids earlier this week to Josh Riley and John Mannion, respectively. State Assembly members Chris Tague and Robert Smullen, state Sen. Dan Stec and Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin are also seen as possible contenders.
Stefanik’s colleagues widely credit her with leading the effort to flip seats in New York over the years, and they won’t be able to carry her coattails at a time when the state is on its way to becoming a battleground.
“We will fill the void and do what we can to continue to elect strong Republicans across the state,” Malliotakis of Staten Island said in an interview, pointing to recent victories in the Senate and Assembly. “We will identify those who want to run for office and help them get elected to fight one-party rule.”
Republicans in New York emphasized that Stefanik would still be allowed to advise colleagues and act in a personal capacity, without Hatch Act violations and perceived conflicts of interest.
And they said they will figure out the rest soon.
“We have a cohesive delegation, and I think we’ll all pick up the slack and work cohesively to do that,” Lawler said in an interview.
One of the next big tasks for Republicans in New York?
Preparing and nominating a GOP challenger for Hochul in 2026 who could succeed where Zeldin almost did in 2022. Lawler is on that short list.
