House Republican Conference Chairwoman Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., spoke to Fox News Digital ahead of the 10-year anniversary of her key primary victory en route to her election to Congress, reflecting on the red wave turning a blue bastion and the implications the GOP’s growing momentum in New York could have for former President Trump on Election Day.
“Absolutely, Democrats have a New York problem. The number of Republicans and Trump supporters in New York is growing,” Stefanik said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “We won a majority in the House from New York, pushed back against the Democrats’ illegal attempt to Gerrymandering and illegally drawing districtsWe won fair district lines not once, but twice. I’m proud that New York gained more seats than any other state when it came to winning majorities in the House. And we are the last line of defense.”
“President Trump knows and cares deeply about New York, because, you know, he’s a native New Yorker himself, he pays a lot of attention to it and understands that we will expand our majority in the House by flipping and saving seats in New York from blue to red,” Stefanik said. “There’s not a single swing district, not just in New York, but across the country that Joe Biden is leading. President Trump is leading in every single House district across the country. And that’s why Democrats are scared, not just in New York, but across the country.”
A decade ago Monday, Stefanik defeated her opponent, Matt Doheny, by more than 20 points in the GOP primary on June 24, 2014. She won again that November, defeating Democrat Aaron Wolf in the general election to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Bill Owens in New York’s 21st congressional district, becoming at the time the youngest woman to serve in Congress in United States history.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., during a news conference on Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Washington, D.C., U.S. Congressional Republicans met with Donald Trump in Washington to show support following his felony impeachment last month. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
That district was won twice previously by former President Obama. Looking back now, Stefanik told Fox News Digital she is grateful not just to Republican voters, but also to independent and Democrat voters in the 2014 election who pushed her to build a strong GOP infrastructure at the local level, resulting in Republicans winning several county seats and city leadership-level positions in a down-ballot red wave in upstate New York.
“I’m proud to be one of President Trump’s strongest supporters. And my district really tells the story of the growing Republican Party today,” he said. “This is Trump and Ellis country now.”
While Democrats have performed well nationally over the past two years, Republican candidates have won key races in New York, where victories in several House seats proved crucial for the GOP to regain control of the lower chamber of Congress by a narrow margin. There are more than a half-dozen Republican candidates in New York. Competitive House races in 2024 This comes shortly after the criminal trial against Trump and at a time when President Biden and fellow Democrat, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, are receiving record-low approval ratings.
“This is a referendum on the failed policies of the Democrats, and it is a referendum on The Failed Policies of Joe Biden-Kathy Hochul “At the federal level, but of course, at the state level, we’re moving forward as well,” Stefanik said of the GOP’s growing momentum in the Empire State. “And we’re moving forward as Republicans in New York because we represent American values, we represent the rule of law, support law enforcement, we support border security. We support economic growth, lowering taxes, raising taxes, which is what we’re seeing consistently coming from Albany and Joe Biden.”
In a presidential election year, the Democratic Party — particularly in New York — appears to be struggling, as progressives and mainstream party members struggle to communicate messaging regarding Israel’s war against Hamas militants in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attacks.
“Squad” member Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., in a speech filled with profanity In the Bronx, he recently lashed out against AIPAC, a pro-Israel group that is backing his Democratic opponent, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, in the upcoming primary contest, where race has also taken center stage.
Stefanik, who in December questioned the presidents of Harvard, UPenn and MIT over their failures to deal with anti-Israel campus protests, argued that anti-Semitism is “part of today’s Democratic Party.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., will deliver a speech at the Faith & Freedom Road to Majority conference in Washington, D.C., on June 21, 2024. Former President Donald Trump will deliver the keynote address at the conservative conference later in the weekend. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Squad member apologizes for calling October 7 rape propaganda: ‘I’m not going to be perfect’
“This was not a prepared question. It was an ethical questionAnd I felt it was important to ask the moral question directly. And I was shocked, appalled and appalled by the morally bankrupt answers,” Stefanik said. “But I was proud to demonstrate the moral leadership that is clearly needed on a global stage to fight the scourge of anti-Semitism. Frankly, anti-Semitism is a part of today’s Democratic Party, and it must be rooted out, and it needs to be destroyed and not allowed to flourish in the way that anti-Semitism is wreaking havoc on these college campuses, putting Jewish students, Jewish educators, Jewish community members at risk every day.”
Pointing to the November election, Stefanik argued that Trump is gaining more support following his conviction in New York in response to “the weaponization of the courts against Joe Biden’s main political rival.”
“And the most egregious example of that is Alvin Bragg’s illegal and unconstitutional targeting of President Trump,” she told Fox News Digital. “I’ve led the effort in terms of legal and ethical complaints, official complaints, against Alvin Bragg and the rigged corrupt process. And I will continue to do so. Nobody in the House or Senate has been more opposed to exposing the corruption of Alvin Bragg in a country where New York has a violent crime crisis. Yet he’s carrying out the political will of Joe Biden.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., joins former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Concord, New Hampshire, on January 19, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The congresswoman pointed to how the Republican Party has been expanding and growing under Trump’s leadership, highlighting historic new GOP support from African American voters, Hispanic American voters, and Asian American voters. Stefanik also pointed to recent polls showing that Biden’s “lead among women is shrinking to within single digits.”
Despite Democrats having campaigned heavily on the issue of abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Stefanik argued that “President Trump is making inroads among women because women voters care about all issues,” including those related to the economy, national security, family, education and the Constitution.
Click here to get the Fox News app
Now serving her fifth term, Stefanik explained how she led a national effort to increase the number of Republican women elected to Congress, and to do so founded Elevate PAC (also known as EPAC), which lays out a roadmap for conservative women running for office.
“In 2018, we were down to 13. Now we’re up to 36,” Stefanik said. “And EPAC, my leadership operation focused on supporting Republican women, has been a huge part of promoting those women. And they’re very supportive of President Trump. And that’s all resulted in a growing Republican Party under President Trump. That’s one of the reasons why you’re seeing in New York state, President Trump’s polling is stronger than any Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan. So certainly, during my lifetime, he has a historic stretch today within the single digits.”
