Trumpworld darling Elise Stefanik to spend '$100 million in campaign cash' in New York — here's why

28 August 2023

Along with getting President Joe Biden reelected and holding the U.S. Senate, one of the Democratic National Committee's top goals for 2024 is retaking the U.S. House of Representatives. Republicans, under speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California), presently enjoy a narrow single-digit House majority. But Democratic strategists are hoping to flip the House next year by performing well in swing districts.

However, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York) has, according to Politico, a game plan for helping Republicans hold the House. And her state plays a key role in it.

"The leading House Republican says she convinced her party to flood key swing districts in New York with $100 million in campaign cash," Politico's Nick Reisman explains in an article published on August 28. "She joined Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the Hamptons for a previously unreported fundraiser with deep-pocketed donors and lawmakers. And she shared a sprawling digital database of contributors with the state GOP."

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Reisman adds, "Nearly a year after Republicans flipped three battleground House seats in the Hudson Valley and on Long Island, Stefanik insists she has a plan that will allow the party to hold off a Democratic offensive.

Although New York State on the whole leans Democratic — the last Republican to carry it in a presidential race was Ronald Reagan in 1984 — some of its congressional districts, including Stefanik's, are GOP-leaning. New York City is considered a Democratic stronghold, yet Democrats lost five mayoral races in a row there during the 1990s and 2000s (Rudy Giuliani won as a Republican in 1993 and 1997, followed by Michael Bloomberg's three terms as a Republican or independent NYC mayor).

Reisman reports, "Stefanik will be taking the reins in New York at the same time Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries plans to steer the party's efforts to win back the seats lost in 2022. So it's a duel for New York between two of Washington's top leaders. New York Republicans are hopeful Stefanik can outmaneuver the other side."

The journalist adds that "Republican candidates in New York's swing seats will likely need all the help they can get" in 2024.

"The GOP is facing myriad challenges, including the potential for a new round of redistricting that could see Democrats in Albany drawing new congressional lines to their advantage," Reisman observes. "New York's top court is set to hear a challenge to the existing districts in November. The money being raised and sent to New York by Republicans is expected to go to advertising and to support potential legal challenges."

Reisman continues, "Stefanik said she is part of a coordinated effort with the Republican National Committee, the House GOP's campaign arm and multiple political action committees to boost the party's most vulnerable incumbents. She pegged the total haul will be around $100 million between the campaigns and the candidates."

In the past, Stefanik had a reputation for being a traditional non-extreme conservative along the lines of Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) or former New York Gov. George Pataki. But that was before she took a far-right MAGA turn and became a strident Donald Trump loyalist. CNN's S.E. Cupp, a Never Trump conservative and Stefanik critic, has slammed Stefanik as an opportunist who went MAGA not out of principle, but because it was politically expedient.

Ellie Dougherty, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), told Politico, "Elise Stefanik is a MAGA extremist who is leading vulnerable New York Republicans to pledge allegiance to their dangerous far-right party."

Politico's full report is available at this link.

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