Elise Stefanik launches campaign for governor of New York

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., on Friday morning threw her hat in the ring to unseat Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in next year’s midterm elections. In a 2½-minute video, Stefanik called Hochul “the worst governor in America,” citing high taxes and utility bills for New Yorkers and the recent election in New York City of self-described democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, whom Hochul endorsed. Stefanik wants to make New York affordable and safe for all, according to her announcement.

Who is Stefanik? At age 30 in 2014, she became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She has won reelection to represent New York’s 21st congressional district five times. After serving in the National Republican Congressional Committee to lead candidate recruitment for the 2018 elections, she launched her own leadership political action committee to recruit Republican women for elected office. In 2021, she became the House Republican Conference chair. In 2023, she earned attention for her pointed questioning of Ivy League university presidents about their policies toward campus chants of genocide for Jews. In November 2024, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Stefanik to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Although she cleared the committee in a 19-3 vote, Trump withdrew the nomination in March, saying he wanted Stefanik to remain in the House to preserve the GOP’s slim majority there. He moved former Rep. Mike Waltz from his national security adviser position for the ambassadorship nomination instead.

Does she have any real chance of winning the governor’s election? New York has not elected a Republican governor since 2002. But in 2022, Hochul won reelection by less than 7 percentage points. Stefanik is expected to try to capitalize on Mamdani’s election as New York City mayor. She and Republicans call him a communist who will destroy the city. But Mamdani was just one of several Democrats elected in various states Tuesday, suggesting broad voter frustration with the Trump administration and Republican Party. In response to Stefanik’s announcement, Hochul’s campaign released an ad claiming Stefanik will work for Trump, not New Yorkers. 

Dig deeper: Listen to Leo Briceno’s report on The World and Everything in It about how Stefanik returned to the rank-and-file in Congress.