Trump loyalist Elise Stefanik launches bid for New York governor
Rep. Elise Stefanik, the once moderate Republican turned staunch MAGA ally of President Donald Trump, announced Friday that she is running for governor of New York.
Stefanik’s entry into the race sets up what will likely be one of the most closely watched elections of the 2026 campaign season.
In the lead-up to her campaign launch, Stefanik had been relentlessly attacking incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), calling her “the worst governor in America,” capitalizing 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 counter communist jihadist terrorist sympathizer Mamdani,” Stefanik wrote in X, joining the chorus of Islamophobic attacks Mamdani has faced from right-wing pundits.
His campaign announcement video on Friday reinforced that theme.
“I’m running for Governor to make New York affordable and safe FOR EVERYONE. Democrats, Republicans and Independents will come together to save our state. It’s time to: FIRE HOCHUL. SAVE NEW YORK,” she wrote in the caption.
His two-and-a-half-minute video made no reference to Trump.
But Hochul made sure to highlight his strong ties to Trump in a supercut posted to social media.
“Elise Stefanik is running to hand New York over to Donald Trump and raise its costs,” Hochul wrote. “Not on my watch. My message to Trump’s ‘main ally’: go ahead.”
AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.
Meanwhile, New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox made clear that the party is united behind Stefanik, noting that “there will be no Republican primary a year from now.”
“She is the warrior we need to lead the fight against Albany’s corrupt Democratic machine,” Cox said in a statement.
New York has not had a Republican governor in nearly 20 years, with George Pataki being the last Republican to hold the office from 1995 to 2007.
Stefanik, an alum of the George W. Bush administration who also helped former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) prepare for the vice presidential debate against Joe Biden in 2012, won her first race for the House of Representatives in 2014, making history as the youngest woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress at the time. She also later became the first woman to hold a leadership position in the House.
While she entered politics as a moderate Republican, she fully embraced Trump and endorsed him in 2016 after he became the party’s nominee.
She has supported him ever since, voting against his impeachment and was also one of 147 Republican lawmakers who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 race on January 6, 2021, pushing his debunked election falsehoods.
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In 2022, she became the first and highest-ranking Republican to endorse Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, while most Republicans blamed him for the party’s lackluster performance in that year’s midterm elections.
She was also reportedly on Trump’s short list for vice president last year before he decided on JD Vance.
But while Stefanik appeared set to be rewarded for her loyalty to Trump by being chosen as US ambassador to the United Nations, he withdrew her nomination out of fear that Republicans could lose her seat in a special election, further limiting their already slim majority in the House of Representatives.