After months of stalling, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is now no longer being considered for the role of United Nations ambassador, after President Donald Trump suddenly withdrew the nomination on Thursday.
Semafor reporter Burgess Everett confirmed that Stefanik's nomination was pulled, and that the White House notified Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that the New York Republican will be remaining in her House of Representatives seat. NOTUS reporter Reese Gorman tweeted that Stefanik — who was previously the chair of the House Republican Conference — "gave up her leadership position" after Trump nominated her, and that she will return to the House "as a rank-and-file member."
"[Stefanik] must be so disappointed," Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told NBC reporter Frank Thorp V. "She would have been easily confirmed, in my view."
Trump wrote on his Truth Social account that his primary motivation for pulling Stefanik's nomination was his concern over risking the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives. He began the post by saying it was "essential that we maintain EVERY Republican Seat in Congress."
"With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat," Trump wrote. "There are others that can do a good job at the United Nations."
Many political observers speculated that Trump was far more afraid than he was letting on about next week's special elections for vacant House seats in the Sunshine State. In Florida's 1st and 6th congressional districts, Democrats are vastly out-raising their Republican opponents and are hoping to notch huge upsets in the typically deep-red districts.Matt Rice, who is the Washington correspondent for the New York Sun, tweeted that Trump was saying "out loud" that he was concerned Democrats could flip Stefanik's reliably Republican district. Former President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina opined that Trump's decision to withdraw Stefanik's nomination was a sign that Republicans are "freaking out about the [Florida] specials in very red districts."
"They are afraid of losing a special election in a +21 Trump district," author Colin Dickey wrote on Bluesky. "They want you to think they are invincible, that it's not worth fighting back. But behind the scenes they are drenched in enough flop sweat to power a dam."
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"They could’ve fessed up about the Signal goof or shown some accountability but instead they’re pulling nominees because they know they’re losing ground with the electorate," Bloomberg opinion columnist Conor Sen skeeted (the accepted term for Bluesky posts).
Kyle Kondik, who is the managing editor for the election prognosticator Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia, remarked on X that "in a special election environment when Rs are concerned about a Trump +30 seat, a Trump +20ish seat could have been dicey." Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) simply responded to the news of Stefanik's withdrawal with three emojis of a fist, an American flag and fire, in an apparent reference to National Security Advisor Mike Waltz's use of the same emojis in the recently leaked war plans chat on Signal.
"[T]o be perfectly frank this is the first data point in months that gives me some real share of hope," historian Paul Cohen posted to Bluesky.
"First undeniably bad week for the administration so far, no?" Semafor reporter David Weigel skeeted.
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