House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik of New York spoke to Fox News Digital a decade before her key primary win on her path to Congress, reflecting on the Republican rise in a Democratic stronghold and what the GOP’s growing momentum in New York state could mean for former President Trump on Election Day.
“Yes, Democrats have a New York problem. New York has become increasingly Republican and increasingly pro-Trump,” Stefanik said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “We won a majority of House seats in New York, we stopped the Democrats from drawing illegal districts, from drawing fraudulent districts. We won fair redistricting not once, but twice. I’m proud that New York won more House seats than any other state when it comes to winning a majority of House seats, and we are the last line of defense.”
“President Trump knows New York well and cares deeply about New York. He’s originally from New York himself and he understands very carefully that he can expand his House majority by keeping New York seats red from blue,” Stefanik said. “There is not a single battleground district, not just in New York, but across the country where Joe Biden is leading. President Trump is leading in every single congressional district in the country. That’s why Democrats are scared, not just in New York, but across the country.”
Ten years ago Monday, Stefanik defeated opponent Matt Doheny by more than 20 points in the June 24, 2014 Republican primary. In November of that year, she handily won again in the general election, defeating Democrat Aaron Wolf to replace retiring Democratic Congressman Bill Owens in New York’s 21st Congressional District. At the time, she became the youngest woman in U.S. Congressional history to serve in Congress.
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Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York speaks to a reporter at a news conference in Washington, DC, USA, Thursday, June 13, 2024. Republican lawmakers met with Donald Trump in Washington to show their support following his felony conviction last month. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Former President Barack Obama won the district twice. Looking back, Stefanik told Fox News Digital she’s grateful to Republican voters, as well as independents and Democrats, who helped put her on track to build a strong Republican base in her hometown in 2014, which led to Republican victories in lower-ranking districts in upstate New York and multiple county seats and town leadership-level posts.
“I’m proud to be one of President Trump’s staunchest supporters, and my district really speaks to the growth of the Republican Party today,” she said. “This is now Trump country, and Ellis country.”
While Democrats have performed well nationally over the past two years, Republican candidates have won key races in New York state, with gains in House seats that played a crucial role in Republicans narrowly regaining control of the House. New York is set to host six competitive House races in 2024, on the heels of a criminal trial against President Trump and with approval ratings for President Biden and fellow Democrat New York Governor Kathy Hockle at record lows.
“This is a referendum on the failed policies of the Democratic Party, not just at the federal level, but certainly at the state level, but also on the failed policies of Joe Biden and Kathy Hockle,” Stefanik said of the Republican Party’s growing momentum in New York state. “And we’re continuing to move forward as Republicans in New York because we represent American values, we represent the rule of law, we support law enforcement, we support border security. We support pro-growth and we support lower taxes, we don’t support higher taxes as Albany and Joe Biden continue to show.”
This presidential election year, Democrats appear to be struggling, especially in New York, with progressive and mainstream party members battling over messaging on Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists after the Oct. 7 terror attacks.
In a foul-mouthed speech in the Bronx, Squad member Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-New York, blasted the pro-Israel group AIPAC for backing his Democratic opponent, Westchester County Mayor George Latimer, in the upcoming racially charged primary.
Stefanik questioned the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and MIT about their failed responses to anti-Israel protests on their campuses in December, and argued that anti-Semitism is “part of the Democratic Party today.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York speaks at the Path to a Faith and Freedom Majority conference in Washington, D.C., on June 21, 2024. Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the conservative conference later in the weekend. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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“That was not a prepared question. It was a moral question. I thought it was important to ask a direct moral question, and I was surprised, shocked and appalled by the morally bankrupt response,” Stefanik said. “But I am proud to have provided the moral leadership that is clearly needed on the world stage to combat the scourge of anti-Semitism, which, frankly, is part of the Democratic Party today and it needs to be eradicated, destroyed and not allowed to fester as it wreaks havoc on these college campuses and puts Jewish students, Jewish faculty and members of the Jewish community at risk every day.”
Turning to the November election, Stefanik argued that Trump is garnering more support following the New York conviction as a reaction to “the weaponization of the courts to go after Joe Biden’s biggest political opponent.”
“Case in point is Alvin Bragg’s illegal and unconstitutional targeting of President Trump,” she told Fox News Digital. “I have led, and will continue to lead, the legal and ethical complaint and formal complaint efforts against Alvin Bragg and the rigged and corrupt process. No one has led a stronger opposition campaign in the House or the Senate in exposing Alvin Bragg’s corruption in New York’s violent crime crisis. Yet he is following the political orders of Joe Biden.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York joined former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Concord, New Hampshire on January 19, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The congresswoman noted that the Republican Party has expanded and grown under Trump’s leadership, highlighting historic new Republican support from African-American, Hispanic and Asian-American voters. Stefanik also pointed to recent polls showing Biden’s “lead among women continues to slip into the single digits.”
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Democrats have campaigned hard on the issue of expanding abortion rights, but Stefanik argued that President Trump is winning support among women because “women voters care about a whole range of issues: the economy, national security, family, education and the Constitution.”
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Stefanik, who is serving her fifth term, spoke about how she founded Elevate PAC (EPAC), which created a roadmap for conservative women to run for office, and led a national effort to elect more Republican women to office.
“In 2018, we were down to 13 and now we’re up to 36,” Stefanik said. “EPAC, my leadership effort to advocate for Republican women, has played a huge role in pushing these women forward. They’re very supportive of President Trump. And this has all happened in a Republican Party that’s grown under President Trump’s leadership. It’s one of the reasons why President Trump has a higher approval rating in New York state than any Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan. So, certainly in my lifetime, his approval rating is historic today, in the single digits.”
