Dec 19 (Reuters) – U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik, a House Republican leader and loyal ally of President Donald Trump, said on Friday she was bowing out of politics, including her recently announced bid for governor of New York, to spend more time with family.
Stefanik, 41, the fourth-ranking member of her party in the House of Representatives as House Republican Conference chair, said she was halting the gubernatorial campaign she launched in November and would not seek re-election to Congress.
When her current term representing New York’s upstate 21st congressional district expires in January 2027, she will have served 12 years in office on Capitol Hill.
Stefanik’s decision last month to challenge the re-election bid of New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul was clouded weeks later when Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, also a Trump ally, launched his own campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.
Nassau County, a western Long Island suburb adjacent to New York City’s borough of Queens, ranks as the state’s leading Republican stronghold.
Stefanik’s exit from the race, announced on X, came after Blakeman paid for a series of campaign ads to run on Fox News over the holidays – not in New York, but in West Palm Beach, Florida, home of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
Trump has previously expressed consternation at having to choose between two allies to endorse in the governor’s race next November.
“They’re two fantastic people, and I always hate it when two very good friends of mine are running, and I hope there’s not a lot of damage done,” the New York Times quoted him as telling reporters recently.
‘MOST IMPORTANT TITLE IS MOM’
While asserting that she would have “overwhelmingly won” that race, Stefanik added in her message on Friday, “it is not an effective use of our time or your generous resources to spend the first half of next year in an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary, especially in a challenging state like New York.”
Stefanik went on to say that throughout her time in Congress, her “most important title is Mom.”
“I believe that being a parent is life’s greatest gift and greatest responsibility,” she wrote. “I have thought deeply about this and I know that as a mother, I will feel profound regret if I don’t further focus on my young son’s safety, growth, and happiness – particularly at his tender age.”
A short time after Stefanik bowed out, Trump acknowledged Stefanik’s announcement on his Truth Social online platform, writing: “Elise is a tremendous talent, regardless of what she does. She will have GREAT success, and I am with her all the way!”
Stefanik, the youngest woman ever elected to the House in 2014, moved sharply to the right after Trump’s first presidential victory in 2016. She has led efforts to expose how elite U.S. colleges, including New York’s Columbia University, responded to campus protests over the Gaza war.
The president nominated her as ambassador to the United Nations at the start of his second term in January 2025 but withdrew her name amid concerns about Republicans’ narrow House majority.
While Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris won New York by a comfortable 12-point margin over Trump in 2024, the state shifted more toward Trump than any other in the nation from 2020 to 2024. But Democrats dominated several high-profile elections in November, including in New York City and nearby New Jersey.
Stefanik’s district is not seen as competitive in next year’s midterm elections, when Democrats will seek to take control of the House. Incumbent presidents’ parties typically lose House seats in midterm elections.
Hochul, 67, was the state’s lieutenant governor in 2021 when then-Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned amid sexual harassment allegations, elevating her to the governorship. She won a full four-year term in 2022.
The last Republican-elected New York governor was George Pataki, who won a third term in 2002.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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