President Donald Trump on Thursday said he was withdrawing New York Representative Elise Stefanik’s nomination to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations because the slim House Republican majority and his policy agenda could be imperiled without her vote in the lower chamber.
The news of Stefanik’s nomination getting pulled was first reported by CBS News and confirmed by Trump himself in a post on his Truth Social website.
The president said it was “essential” for the GOP to maintain “every Republican seat in Congress” to advance what he called his “America First Agenda” — meaning the massive tax cut and spending bill his GOP allies are crafting to pass along party lines using a parliamentary trick that bypasses Senate filibuster rules.
“We must be unified to accomplish our Mission, and Elise Stefanik has been a vital part of our efforts from the very beginning. I have asked Elise, as one of my biggest Allies, to remain in Congress to help me deliver Historic Tax Cuts, GREAT Jobs, Record Economic Growth, a Secure Border, Energy Dominance, Peace Through Strength, and much more, so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” he said.
Trump added that he doesn’t want to “take a chance on anyone else” in the special election that would be triggered were Stefanik to resign her House seat to take up the ambassadorial post for which she had been nominated.
“There are others that can do a good job at the United Nations. Therefore, Elise will stay in Congress, rejoin the House Leadership Team, and continue to fight for our amazing American People,” he said.
Stefanik had already come before members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for a nomination hearing and was awaiting votes on whether to advance her nomination to the full upper chamber, but Trump’s decision to withdraw her means a new nominee will have to undergo the same confirmation process.
One Democrat on the panel, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, told The Independent on Thursday that he hadn’t planned to support Stefanik and called her “the wrong person [at the] wrong time for the wrong place.”
Trump’s unexpected decision to withdraw Stefanik’s nomination comes just days before a pair of unexpectedly tight special elections in his adopted home state of Florida, where candidates are currently campaigning to replace former representatives Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz.
Gaetz resigned from the House last year and declined to take up his seat in the current Congress after he was briefly Trump’s pick for Attorney General. He withdrew his name from consideration on account of the myriad scandals that dogged him during his time in Congress, including allegations that he’d paid a minor female for sex and consumed illicit drugs during his tenure as the representative for the Sunshine State’s first district.
Waltz, who currently serves as Trump’s national security adviser, resigned his seat representing Florida’s sixth district to take up his White House post.
Public polling for the race to fill out Waltz’s seat shows it within the margin of error, with a recent survey by St Pete’s polling finding Republican Randy Fine drawing 48.3 percent of support compared with 44.2 percent supporting Democrat Josh Weil.
A Democratic win in the Florida special election would narrow House Speaker Mike Johnson’s current five-seat majority, and Trump’s decision to pull Stefanik so she could stay in the House could be a sign that Republicans are concerned that they could lose either or both seats despite Trump having carried both districts by wide margins just four months ago.
