News : The meaning of Elise Stefanik

Thursday, May 6, 2021

The meaning of Elise Stefanik

May 06, 2021

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With help from Myah Ward

AFTER CHENEY — Rep. Liz Cheney's (R-Wyo.) seemingly imminent ouster from her spot as the No. 3 Republican in House leadership will reverberate inside the GOP in 2021 and beyond.

Her probable successor, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, made her reputation when she defended Trump during his first impeachment hearing. But Stefanik wasn't always a Trump loyalist. How might she help shape the Republican Party's future? Nightly chatted with campaign editor and Ithaca native Scott Bland , who covered her first campaign for the House, in 2014, over Slack today about his fellow upstate New Yorker's rise. This conversation has been edited.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) | Anna Moneymaker/Pool via Getty Images

How is Stefanik seen in New York State?

She came into Congress in 2014 with this kind of moderate, new-ideas sheen about her. At the time, she was the youngest woman ever elected to the House.

Still, there wasn't anything particularly striking about her. She was a pretty conventional Republican at the time, and she had a deep Republican résumé in Washington to go with her upbringing in the area. She was a staffer in the Bush White House and the Romney-Ryan 2012 campaign, among other things, before she moved home to run for Congress. And when she did, she got a lot of support from D.C., including from Ryan and a big super PAC.

How did she vault her way from that to House leadership?

Before she became nationally known as a Trump defender, she was seen as a rising star among a smaller group of Washington Republicans. She certainly wasn't a big Trump fan in 2016 — she was, for a time, one of those Republican officeholders who would say "I plan to support the nominee" without explicitly saying his name. But, without getting into motivations or anything like that, it's clear that coming around on Trump has been good for business for Stefanik.

Something I thought was really interesting while thinking about Stefanik's rise was the evolution of her district, which is basically the northeast corner of New York State. When she first won it, Barack Obama had just carried it twice — and he actually improved his performance slightly in 2012 compared to 2008, even though his overall national vote share declined.

That seems to me like kind of an indictment of the traditional Republican Party that she was aligned with at that point, and specifically of the Romney-Ryan campaign. But Trump carried the district by double digits since then. It's an Obama-Trump district.

Are you surprised to see her star take off?

Ha, I wouldn't say surprised. This doesn't really crack the list of the most surprising things that have happened since Stefanik broke into Congress. It's always been clear that she's talented.

But this situation, specifically, is just such a surprising way to rise, isn't it? Liz Cheney just defeated an effort to remove her from leadership pretty resoundingly a few months ago, and now here we are. That's the surprising part to me.

Totally. What does it say about where the GOP is headed?

Trump is obviously still a huge factor in every little piece of internal party politics. You can see this in everything from contests for state and local party chair positions to the upper echelons of Congress. I know it's a basic fact of life right now, but it still is worthwhile to sit back and think about how remarkable that is, considering he just became the first president to lose reelection since 1992.

Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas for us at rrayasam@politico.com, or on Twitter at @renurayasam.

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First In Nightly

"I moved my home because people were showing up at my house and making me feel unsafe. ... They believed that my questions [to President Trump] were going to do something to them."

— TheGrio White House correspondent April Ryan, as told to Playbook co-author Eugene Daniels. On Friday's episode of Playbook Deep Dive, Eugene talks with fellow Black White House correspondents Ryan and NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about everything from microaggressions to death threats.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki talks to reporters on March 22, during her daily news conference in the Brady Press Briefing room, where she has often sparred with Peter Doocy, sitting in the front row.

Also coming in tomorrow's POLITICO: "Fox wants a seat in the room, but many of its viewers also want to see a fight. That conflict is embodied in Doocy: a smooth yet aggressive, social media-savvy correspondent who might feel like a fresh face on TV, yet is indisputably of, by and for Fox." — From Christopher Cadelago's profile on Fox News' Peter Doocy. Check it out after it's published as POLITICO Magazine's Friday Cover in the morning.

What'd I Miss?

— Millions head back to work while employer confusion continues: Millions of people are flooding back to work as the coronavirus ebbs, but businesses say the federal government's failure to answer pressing questions over masks and vaccinations are complicating their reopening efforts. Despite President Joe Biden's goal of getting 70 percent of Americans vaccinated by July 4, and his call for every employer to offer paid time off for workers to recover from the shot, the government has yet to answer whether it's legal for businesses to offer vaccine incentives to their staffs.

— Twitter boots account mimicking Trump's new blog: Twitter suspended an account replicating posts from former President Donald Trump's new blog, saying it violated the company's rules.

— DeSantis gives Fox "exclusive" of him signing election bill: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, continuing his ongoing feud with most of the "corporate media," signed into law a contentious election bill during an event where only Fox News was allowed to observe. DeSantis's decision to sign the measure, which puts in restrictions on mail-in ballot collections and the use of drop boxes, was publicly touted by the Republican governor over the last several days. The GOP-controlled Florida Legislature approved it by a largely party line vote last week.

— Giuliani cuts down his entourage: Rudy Giuliani, the former personal lawyer for Trump, has reduced the size of his personal entourage, according to three people familiar with the matter. The news comes after years of stories suggesting he might be having financial difficulties — or is at least seeking creative ways to make money as he manages his growing legal woes.Twitter suspended an account replicating posts from Trump's new blog, saying it violated the company's rules.

AROUND THE WORLD

SHOT AT GOLD — Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have hatched an agreement with the Olympics' governing body to help vaccinate participants in the Tokyo games set for July.

Under the deal between the companies and the International Olympics Committee, they agreed to donate additional vaccine doses to ensure that those going to the games have access to them. Those shots will be separate from contracts already in place to secure doses for a country's general populace and will be determined in coordination with individual countries' Olympics organizations.

Pfizer and BioNTech said the side deal will not meaningfully affect the global supply of its vaccine doses, but did not indicate how many doses they expect to send out as part of this agreement.

Nightly Number

At least 66

The number of state bills that restrict transgenger youth's access to sports teams, as tracked by LGBTQ advocacy group The Human Rights Campaign . The bills are part of a wave of legislation that advocates say has been introduced and, in some cases, adopted with unprecedented speed. Next Thursday, on May 13, Renu will be hosting a conversation with transgender elected officials to discuss their experiences running for and serving in public office. Join us for the discussion.

Parting Words

ON THE BICUSPID OF INSANITY — Nightly's Myah Ward emails:

I hate going to the dentist.

I hate the scraping sound the metal instruments make on teeth. I hate having someone's hand in my mouth and feeling like I constantly have to swallow. I hate being asked for my six-month life update while said hands are in my mouth. (This is nothing against the kind people who clean my teeth and are just doing their jobs.)

Now that I'm fully vaccinated, I figured my excuses for delaying an appointment had run out. It's been at least a year and a half since my last cleaning.

Even so, when I walked into the office today, my brain jumped into action. Only person in the waiting room. Nice.

I walked up to the front desk. "Let me take your temperature," the receptionist said. "Good on all the Covid questions?" Taking shortcuts, I see. Not even asking me the questions.

When I was called back for my cleaning, I noticed an air purifier purring on the floor.

The hygienist was wearing a mask, a full gown, face shield and gloves. Seems safe.

The hygienist told me I could take off my mask now that I'm in the chair. Wow, I think this is the first time I've been unmasked with a stranger indoors in ages. Wonder if she's been vaccinated. Not my business.

She asked me for my life update. Are you still in school? Do you have a job? Oh, where are you working? You're living at home? Can't even have small talk without addressing Covid.

Why am I clenching my hands? Relax.

Then the dentist came in. Same job questions, same answer.

Then he got right to it. "So did you get Covid?" No. "Vaccinated?" Yes. "Oh, which one?" Pfizer.

"I just got Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday," he said. "One and done!"

Not fully protected yet. Takes at least four weeks for J&J. Shut up, brain.

"You guys got Pfizer, right?" he asked the hygienist. She nodded. Oh, so she is vaccinated! Quadruple protection with all those layers.

The hygenist told me my teeth looked great.

Ha, that's because my dentist avoidance this past year actually made me floss more.

I hate how I analyzed every little thing in that office. I hate how I obsessed over masks and vaccines. I hate how I can't even talk about my job without mentioning a virus. I hate how I can't do a simple, routine thing without it staring me down: Covid, Covid, Covid.

It'll be nice to hate the dentist again just for the teeth scraping and hands in my mouth.

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