Elise Stefanik Is Running For New York Governor | EUROtoday

Rep. Elise Stefanik, the onetime reasonable Republican turned staunch MAGA ally of President Donald Trump, introduced on Friday that she is operating for governor of New York.

Stefanik’s entry into the race units up what’s prone to be probably the most carefully watched elections of the 2026 marketing campaign season.

In the lead-up to the launch of her marketing campaign, Stefanik had been relentlessly attacking incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), calling her “the Worst Governor in America,” seizing on her endorsement of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

“Now more than ever, New Yorkers need a strong check and balance in the Governor’s Office to counterbalance jihadist terrorist sympathizer Commie Mamdani,” Stefanik wrote on X, becoming a member of the refrain of Islamophobic assaults Mamdani has confronted from right-wing pundits.

Her marketing campaign video announcement on Friday bolstered that theme.

“I am running for Governor to make New York affordable and safe FOR ALL. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents will unify to save our state. It’s time to: FIRE HOCHUL. SAVE NEW YORK,” she wrote within the caption.

Her two-and-a-half-minute video didn’t reference Trump in any respect.

But Hochul made positive to focus on her robust ties to Trump in a supercut posted on social media.

“Elise Stefanik is running to deliver New York for Donald Trump and raise your costs,” Hochul wrote. ”Not on my watch. My message to Trump’s ‘top ally’ — convey it on.”

Meanwhile, New York GOP chair Ed Cox made clear the occasion is united behind Stefanik, noting there “will not be a Republican primary in a year from now.”

“She is the warrior we need to lead the fight against Democrats’ corrupt Albany machine,” Cox stated in a press release.

New York hasn’t had a GOP governor in practically 20 years, with George Pataki being the final Republican to carry the publish from 1995 to 2007.

Stefanik, an alum of the George W. Bush administration who additionally helped former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in his preparation for the vice presidential debate in opposition to Joe Biden in 2012, gained her first House race in 2014, making historical past because the youngest girl ever elected to the U.S. Congress on the time.

While she entered politics as a reasonable Republican, she went on to totally embrace Trump, endorsing him in 2016 after he grew to become the occasion’s nominee.

She has stood by him ever since, voting in opposition to his impeachment and was additionally one of many 147 Republican lawmakers who voted in opposition to certifying Joe Biden’s victory within the 2020 race on Jan. 6, 2021, pushing his debunked election falsehoods.

In 2022, she grew to become the primary Republican, and the highest-level one, to endorse Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, whereas most Republicans blamed him for the occasion’s lackluster efficiency in that yr’s midterm elections.

She was additionally reportedly on Trump’s vice-presidential shortlist final yr earlier than he settled on JD Vance.

But whereas Stefanik appeared poised to be rewarded for her loyalty to Trump, being picked to function the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, he withdrew her nomination over considerations that Republicans may lose her seat in a particular election, additional limiting their already-small majority within the House of Representatives.