Stefanik was born in
Albany, New York, on July 2, 1984,[2] to Melanie and Kenneth Stefanik.[3]
Stefanik claims that her father is ethnically
Czech and her mother is of
Italian ancestry;[4] existing data suggest that her father's family came from the area of present-day
Polish Subcarpathia.[5][6]
In October 1998, when she was 14, Stefanik was featured in a Times Union profile about
U.S. SenatorAl D'Amato. In the article she is quoted saying, "I support the
Republican view, especially his".[8] Stefanik worked in Washington for six years before entering politics. According to Stefanik, she first considered a career in public service and policy in the aftermath of the
September 11 attacks.[9]
Stefanik graduated from the
Albany Academy for Girls and enrolled at
Harvard College, graduating with a
Bachelor of Arts degree in government in 2006.[10][11] She was elected vice president of the
Harvard Institute of Politics in 2004.[12] At Harvard, she received an honorable mention for the Women's Leadership Award, an endowed student award for leadership and contributing toward the advancement of women.[13]
After the 2012 election, Stefanik bought a home in
Willsboro, near
Plattsburgh. Her parents had owned a vacation home in Willsboro for many years.[18][19] By April 2014, she owned a minority interest in a
townhouse near
Capitol Hill in
Washington, D.C., valued at $1.3 million.[20]
On August 19, 2017, in
Saratoga Springs, New York, Stefanik married Matthew Manda, who works in marketing and communications.[21] In December 2018, Stefanik and Manda moved to
Schuylerville, near Saratoga Springs.[22] As of 2022[update], Manda works as the manager of public affairs for the
National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association for firearms manufacturers.[23] Their first child was born in 2021.[24]
Stefanik defeated Matt Doheny in the 2014 Republican primary election, 61% to 39%.[28] She faced Aaron Woolf, the
Democratic Party nominee, and Matt Funiciello, the
Green Party nominee, in the November 4 general election.[14] Stefanik won with 55% of the vote to their 34% and 11%, respectively. At age 30, she became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress at the time.[17]
Stefanik faced Democratic nominee Mike Derrick and Green Party nominee Matt Funiciello in the general election.[32][33] She won with 66% of the vote to Derrick's 29% and Funiciello's 5%.[34]
On January 11, 2017, Stefanik announced that she had been elected co-chair of the
Tuesday Group,[45] "a caucus of ... moderate House Republicans from across the country".[46]
Stefanik led recruitment for the
National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) in the
2018 House elections; among 13 Republican women elected to the House, only one was newly elected.[47] In December 2018, Stefanik announced she would leave the NRCC to create a "leadership PAC" dedicated to recruiting Republican women to run for office.[48][49][50] This group, named Elevate PAC (E-PAC), announced in an October 22 press conference that it had partially funded the primary campaigns of 11 Republican women from various states.[51] In the
2020 House elections, 18 of the 30 women endorsed by Stefanik's E-PAC were elected.[52]
In 2020,
Fortune magazine included Stefanik in its "
40 Under 40" listing in the "Government and Politics" category.[53]
On May 19, 2021, Stefanik and all other House Republican leaders voted against establishing a
January 6 commission to investigate the
January 6 United States Capitol attack. 35 Republican House members and all 217 Democrats present voted to establish such a commission.[54]
In early 2021, after
House Republican Conference Chair
Liz Cheney supported
Trump's second impeachment and refuted his claims that the election was stolen from him, some Republicans in Congress who supported Trump called for her removal.[56] Stefanik was seen as a potential replacement for Cheney if the Republican conference decided to oust Cheney from her position, despite Cheney's more conservative credentials and greater voting record in support of Trump's policies.[57][58][59] On May 5, Stefanik received the endorsement of Trump and
House Minority WhipSteve Scalise to replace Cheney as conference chair.[60] During a May 6 appearance on a podcast hosted by
Steve Bannon, Stefanik repeatedly emphasized the need for the Republican Party to work with Trump.[61] Representative
Chip Roy challenged Stefanik from the right in a bid to replace Cheney, but was denounced by Trump, who reiterated his endorsement of Stefanik.[62][63] On May 14, Stefanik was elected House Republican Conference chair.[64] After her victory, Stefanik thanked Trump, saying, "President Trump is the leader that [Republican voters] look to".[65]
A couple of weeks after being elected House Republican Conference chair, Politico reported that Stefanik had been responsible for planting negative stories about
Jim Banks, a potential competitor for the job, and his aide Buckley Carlson,
Tucker Carlson's son. This was met with displeasure by allies of
Donald Trump Jr., who made it known to Stefanik that her attacks on Carlson's son had crossed a line.[66]
After the 2022 elections, Stefanik was reelected as conference chair, defeating
Byron Donalds.[67]
During a 2023 hearing on antisemitism of the
House Education and Workforce Committee, Stefanik asked the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania, who had been invited to speak, whether "calling for the genocide of Jewish people" constituted bullying or harassment on their campuses. Their responses, in which they refused to say "yes" or "no", drew criticism from the public and from a group of Representatives who signed an open letter calling for all three to resign.[68] UPenn president
Liz Magill, who was already facing pressure from within the university, resigned the following week. Following the announcement of Magill's resignation, Stefanik
tweeted "One down. Two to go."[69][70] During the hearing, when the MIT president denied hearing any calls for genocide, Stefanik claimed that chants of "Intifada" (Arabic) are often considered as a "call for the
genocide" by the Jewish people.[71] Faculty, students, and alumni of Harvard were divided in their opinions of then-president Claudine Gay, with some calling for her resignation and others expressing continued support.[72][73][74]
Following the congressional hearing, the House committee said it would launch an investigation into the learning environments and disciplinary policies at Harvard, Penn, and MIT over alleged antisemitism on their campuses.[75][76] The hearing was portrayed in the
cold open of the December9 episode of Saturday Night Live, with
Chloe Troast playing Stefanik.[77][a] The skit was criticized by conservatives and Jewish groups like the ADL for being complacent with anti-Semitism.[80][81]
Stefanik opposes
abortion, but says the Republican Party (GOP) should be more understanding of other positions on the issue.[91][92] She opposes taxpayer funding for abortion, and supports requiring that
health insurance plans disclose whether they cover it.[93] In 2019, The
National Right to Life Committee, a political action committee (PAC) opposed to legal abortion, gave Stefanik a 71% rating, and
NARAL Pro-Choice America, a
PAC that supports legal abortion, gave her a 28% rating.[94] She joined her party in supporting H.R. 36, the
Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act of 2017.[95] She also supports legislation that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy with exceptions for rape, incest, or to protect the pregnant woman's life.[96][97]
COVID-19 vaccine
Stefanik opposes federal
COVID-19 vaccine mandates for private employers. Along with approximately 170 other members of Congress, she signed an
amicus brief to the Supreme Court arguing that Congress did not give the government authority to impose a vaccine mandate.[98]
Stefanik voted against the
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, joining five other New York Republican representatives.[100] Her primary reason for voting against the law was its changes to the
state and local tax deduction "that so many in our district and across New York rely on".[101] Stefanik also criticized "Albany's failed leadership and inability to rein in spending". She said, "New York is one of the highest taxed states in the country, and families here rely on this important deduction to make ends meet. Failure to maintain SALT (state and local tax deductions) could lead to more families leaving our region."[102][103]
An analysis by FiveThirtyEight in early 2017 found Stefanik supporting Trump's position in 77.7% of House votes from the
115th to the
117th Congress.[105] Stefanik has been described as a Trump loyalist.[106][107]
In May 2021, Stefanik called Trump the "strongest supporter of any president when it comes to standing up for the Constitution."[108]
First Trump impeachment
On September 25, 2019, Stefanik announced that she did not support the
impeachment of President Trump.[109] During the November 2019 hearings, in which Congress gathered evidence and heard witness testimony in relation to the impeachment inquiry, Stefanik emerged as a key defender of Trump.[110][111][112] During a November 15 hearing, intelligence committee ranking member
Devin Nunes attempted to yield part of his allotted witness questioning time to Stefanik, but was ruled out of order by committee chairman
Adam Schiff.[113] Stefanik accused Schiff of "making up the rules as he goes" and of preventing Republican committee members from controlling their time to question witnesses.[113] Nunes and Stefanik were violating the procedural rules that were established by an October House vote, and Schiff cited the rule to them.[110][112][114] The rule Schiff cited authorized only Schiff and Nunes, or their counsels, to ask questions during the first 45 minutes of each party's questions for witnesses.[113] The incident created a controversy in which Stefanik and others, including Trump, accused Schiff of "gagging" her.[115]The Washington Post and other sources characterized the incident as a "stunt" to portray Schiff as unfair.[116][117][118][119][120]
2020 election fraud conspiracy theories
After
Joe Biden won the
2020 presidential election and Trump refused to concede while making false claims of fraud, Stefanik aided Trump in his efforts to overturn the election results.[121] She also made
false claims of fraud, saying among other things that "more than 140,000 votes came from underage, deceased, and otherwise unauthorized voters" in
Fulton County,
Georgia.[121] She also expressed "concerns" about
Dominion Voting Systems, the subject of numerous false right-wing conspiracy theories.[122] In December 2020, Stefanik supported the lawsuit Texas v. Pennsylvania, an
attempt to reverse Trump's loss[123] by petitioning the
U.S. Supreme Court to reject certified results in
Michigan,
Pennsylvania,
Wisconsin and
Georgia.[124][125][126] After a mob of pro-Trump supporters
stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Stefanik condemned the violence but rejected the idea that Trump was at fault.[127][128] She has promoted conspiracy theories about a "stolen election",[129] and just hours after the "invasion" of the Capitol, she voted against accepting Pennsylvania's electoral votes in the 2020 election.[130][131][132] Later in January, she expressed opposition to impeaching Trump over his alleged role in inciting the storming of the Capitol.[133] She voted against the
second impeachment on January 13.[134]
In December 2020, one month after the
2020 United States presidential election, Stefanik, in an interview with
Newsmax, appeared to support Newsmax's baseless claim that
Dominion Voting Systems had helped
Joe Biden "steal" the election from
Donald Trump. Newsmax had been promoting the theory but later issued a retraction after reaching a legal settlement with
Dominion. Stefanik continued to make unsubstantiated claims about election fraud in public statements.[135]
In December 2020, Stefanik joined over 100
GOPHouse members in an
amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the 2020 election.[136]
Stefanik has forwarded the idea of "
expunging" both of Trump's impeachments.
In 2022, Republican Congressman
Markwayne Mullin introduced resolutions to remove Trump's first impeachments from the
Congressional Record.[137] This received support from Stefanik.[138] On June 22, 2023, Stefanik and Congresswoman
Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced a pair of resolutions to expunge Trump's impeachments.[139] The next day, Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy lent his support to the resolutions.[140]
Defense
In a July 2015 Washington Times profile, Jacqueline Klimas noted that Stefanik was the only freshman on that year's conference committee for the defense policy bill, a position accorded to her "because of her extensive experience in foreign policy—working in the George W. Bush administration, prepping Rep. Paul Ryan for his vice presidential debates, and listening to commanders at Fort Drum in her home district". Jack Collens, a political science professor at Siena College, told Klimas that Stefanik's prize committee position signaled that party leaders wanted Stefanik to be part of "the next generation of Republican leaders".[141]
Following a televised community forum in Plattsburgh four days later, at which many attendees opposed her vote and wanted to maintain Obamacare,[146] Stefanik said she had been unfairly criticized for her vote for AHCA.[147][148] She defended her vote in a post on Medium, "Setting the Record Straight on the American Health Care Act".[149][150] Her claims about the effects of the AHCA were strongly disputed by fact checkers at the Glens Falls Post-Star,[151] North Country Public Radio,[152] and the Albany Times Union.[153]
In 2017, Stefanik co-sponsored the Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act in the 115th Congress—legislation that, among other things, would eliminate the genetic privacy protections of the
Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act of 2008 and allow companies to require employees to undergo
genetic testing or risk paying a penalty of thousands of dollars, and let employers see that genetic and other health information. The American Society of Human Genetics opposes the bill.[154]
In November 2017, Stefanik voted for the Championing Healthy Kids Act, which would provide a five-year extension to the
Children's Health Insurance Program.[155]
Immigration
Stefanik opposed Trump's 2017
executive order imposing a temporary ban on travel and immigration to the United States by nationals of seven
Muslim-majority countries.[156]
On March 26, 2019, Stefanik was one of 14 Republicans to vote with all House Democrats to override Trump's
veto of a measure unwinding the latter's declaration of a national emergency at the southern border.[159]
While previously supporting
DACA,[160] in 2021, Stefanik voted against the
DREAM Act, which nine Republicans voted for.[161]
During the
2022 United States infant formula shortage, Stefanik criticized the Biden administration for supplying baby formula to undocumented immigrants, claiming that Biden was prioritizing immigrants over American citizens. Stefanik accused the Democrats of collaborating with unspecified "pedo grifters" in implementing this policy. Stefanik's association of the Democratic Party with pedophiles appeared to echo the
QAnon conspiracy theory. Stefanik's office later stated she was referencing sexual misconduct allegations against one of the founders of the
Lincoln Project.[162] Stefanik has further claimed in a Facebook campaign advertisement in 2021 that Democrats were orchestrating a "permanent election insurrection" by granting amnesty to undocumented immigrants in order to "overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority in Washington.” After the
2022 Buffalo shooting, this advertisement received renewed criticism.[163] Republican congressman
Adam Kinzinger cited Stefanik's advertisement as proof for his accusation that Stefanik had promoted the
white nationalistreplacement theory, a theory which the Buffalo shooter believed.[164] An adviser to Stefanik denied the accusation, calling it a "new disgusting low for the Left, their Never Trump allies, and the sycophant stenographers in the media."[165]
On December 19, 2017, Stefanik voted against the
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. In a December 18 Facebook post, she wrote, "The final bill does not adequately protect the state and local tax deduction that so many in our district and across New York rely on ... New York is one of the highest taxed states in the country, and families here rely on this important deduction to make ends meet."[172]
In September 2018, Stefanik,
Seth Moulton and
Dan Donovan co-sponsored the Cyber Ready Workforce Act advanced by
Jacky Rosen. The legislation would create a grant program within the
Department of Labor to "create, implement, and expand registered apprenticeships" in
cybersecurity. It aims to offer certifications and connect participants with businesses, in order to "boost the number" of workers for federal jobs in that field.[174][175]
LGBT rights
In the
116th Congress, Stefanik was one of eight Republicans to vote for the
Equality Act.[176][177] Later in the same Congress, she introduced a bill, The Fairness for All Act, that would prohibit discrimination against LGBT people while also including exceptions for religious groups and small businesses with religious foundations.[178] In the
117th Congress, Stefanik voted against the
Equality Act on February 25, 2021, despite supporting the same legislation in the previous Congress.[179][180]
On July 19, 2022, Stefanik was one of the 47 Republican representatives who voted in favor of the
Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify the right to same-sex marriage in federal law.[181]
Voting rights
Stefanik opposes the
For the People Act. She made a false claim that the legislation would "prevent removal of ineligible voters from registration rolls". Both
FactCheck.org and
PolitiFact rated Stefanik's claim "False", with PolitiFact stating, "No section of the bill prevents an election official from removing an ineligible person on the voting rolls."[182][183]
Women in politics
Stefanik has long advocated for empowering women in the Republican Party and has influenced the party's culture to prioritize electing more women.[52] After her election in 2014, Stefanik named
Facebook COO
Sheryl Sandberg as a major influence on her decision to run for Congress.[184]
George Santos
During the 2022 election cycle, Stefanik was a strong early supporter of
George Santos's campaign for U.S. representative from
New York's 3rd district, on
Long Island. She endorsed him in August 2021, lent him a staffer who played a major role in his campaign, and held a fundraiser for him in May 2022 that raised over $100,000. After Santos won the election, The New York Times and other media outlets reported that he had greatly misrepresented much of his background, including employers and schools he had no connection with, as well as aspects of his family history and ethnic background; in addition, there were personal details he had not shared, such as an active criminal case against him in Brazil.[185] In December 2023, Stefanik voted against expelling Santos from the U.S. House of Representatives, saying his expulsion would set "a dangerous precedent and I am voting no based upon my concerns regarding due process." Santos was expelled from the House by a vote of 311–114.[186]
Endorsement of Carl Paladino
In 2022, Stefanik endorsed
Carl Paladino in the election to succeed retiring
U.S. representativeChris Jacobs in
New York's 23rd congressional district. Stefanik reportedly had a history of disputes with Paladino's rival in the Republican primary, then-
New York State Republican Committee chair
Nick Langworthy.[187] Paladino made comments on a radio show in 2021 praising
Adolf Hitler, saying he was "the kind of leader we need today". Stefanik condemned Paladino's remarks when asked about them by HuffPost but did not withdraw her endorsement.[188] After Paladino called for the
execution of
Attorney GeneralMerrick Garland, former Republican congresswoman
Mia Love called upon Stefanik to rescind her endorsement of Paladino.[189] Stefanik actively campaigned for Paladino, hosting a tele-rally for him the night before the primary. Paladino lost the primary to Langworthy.[190]
^The role was originally given to former cast member
Cecily Strong who played it during dress rehearsal. Strong reportedly said the sketch's content made her uncomfortable, giving Troast the opportunity to play the role instead.[78][79]
^"Manson, Schuker honored for leadership". The Harvard Gazette. April 20, 2006.
Archived from the original on May 6, 2007. Retrieved October 5, 2014. In addition to recognition of Manson and Schuker, the College will honor seniors Stacey Borden and Elise Stefanik, both honorable mentions for the Women's Leadership Award.
^"Biography". Elise Stefanik's Congressional Website. Washington, D.C. Archived from
the original on June 8, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
^Flatley, Daniel; White, Perry (February 5, 2015).
"Stefanik named to leadership post on subcommittee". Watertown Daily Times. Watertown, New York. Archived from
the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved June 23, 2015. Military readiness, training, logistics and maintenance issues and programs, military construction, installations and family housing issues, and the BRAC process are all part of the subcommittee's purview.