Elise Stefanik

Elise Marie Stefanik (; born July 2, 1984) is an American politician. She is a member of the U.S. Representative for  since 2015. She was the chair of the House Republican Conference from 2021 to 2025. 

Stefanik was seen as a possible running mate for former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign. She campaigned for him during the 2024 presidential election. In November 2024, President-elect Trump nominated Stefanik to be the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, however her nomination was withdrawn in March 2025.

Early life
Stefanik was born in Albany, New York. She studied at Harvard University. She became interested in politics in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001. She was elected vice president of the Harvard Institute of Politics in 2004.

After graduating from Harvard, she joined the George W. Bush administration, as a staff member for the U.S. Domestic Policy Council. Stefanik later worked in the office of Joshua Bolten, the White House Chief of Staff. 

In 2009, she founded the blog American Maggie, to promote the views of "conservative and Republican women", named after British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

U.S. House of Representatives
When elected in 2014, Stefanik, then aged 30, became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress at the time. She was also the youngest Republican woman ever elected to Congress at the time.

Stefanik has long supported empowering women in the Republican Party and helped change the party's culture to focusing on electing more women. After her election in 2014, Stefanik named Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg as a major influence on her decision to run for Congress.

At first, she was elected as a moderate conservative, however Stefanik has become more conservative and has supported former President Donald Trump. She strongly opposed the first impeachment of Trump in 2019 and supported Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election. As the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack began to investigate, Stefanik blamed then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi instead of Trump over the January 6 United States Capitol attack. 

Stefanik criticized Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.

Stefanik was elected as the chair of the Republican House Conference in May 2021 after Liz Cheney was removed.

On July 19, 2022, Stefanik was one of the 47 Republican representatives who voted in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify the right to same-sex marriage in federal law.

Stefanik has supported the idea of "expunging" both of Trump's impeachments. In 2022, Republican Congressman Markwayne Mullin introduced resolutions to remove Trump's first impeachments from the Congressional Record. This received support from Stefanik.

Stefanik became well known in December 2023 for her intense questioning of university presidents during a widely televised U.S. congressional hearing on antisemitism. Her hearings led to criticism and resignation of two of the presidents.

Stefanik was seen as a possible running mate for former President Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.

 Committee assignments 
Stefanik's committee assignments include:

Committee on Armed Services
Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats, and Capabilities (Ranking Member)
Committee on Education and the Workforce
Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services
Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training
United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

Ambassador to the United Nations nomination
In November 2024, CNN reported that President-elect Donald Trump had offered Stefanik the position of United States ambassador to the United Nations.
Stefanik appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on January 21, 2025. During the hearing, she promised to fight antisemitism and support Israel and Taiwan. 

The committee advanced Stefanik's nomination in a 19–3 vote on January 30, 2025. Although observers believed that Stefanik was likely to secure Senate confirmation without difficulty, Senate Republicans delayed the confirmation process due to concerns about the narrow Republican majority in the House of Representatives. Stefanik was expected to be confirmed after April 1, if two vacant House seats were won by Republican candidates in special elections on that date.

On March 27, 2025, President Trump said that he had withdrawn Stefanik's nomination because of the slim Republican majority margin in the House of Representatives. Trump said that he personally asked Stefanik to remain in Congress, calling her "one of his biggest allies". He also hinted that she could be considered for another position in his administration at a later date.

Personal life
Stefanik married Matthew Manda in 2017. In December 2018, Stefanik and Manda moved to Schuylerville, near Saratoga Springs. Their first child was born in 2021. 

Stefanik is a Roman Catholic.

References

Other websites

 Representative Elise Stefanik official U.S. House website
 Elise Stefanik for Congress


Category:1984 births
Category:Living people
Category:United States representatives from New York (state)
Category:Politicians from Albany, New York
Category:Republican Party (United States) politicians
Category:American bloggers
Category:Harvard University alumni