Back me, I like Trump, says Stefanik
Upstate Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, without naming GOP leader Rep. Liz Cheney, portrayed herself Thursday as the best choice to replace the Wyoming lawmaker and unite the Republican Party around former President Donald Trump.
Stefanik, speaking on Steven Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, took an implicit shot at Cheney by saying she was committed to “sending a clear message that we are one team and that means working with the president.”
“My vision is to run with support from (Trump) and his coalition of voters, which was the highest number of votes ever won by a Republican nominee,” Stefanik told the former Trump adviser.
Stefanik’s remarks came a day after Trump and top GOP brass publicly backed the New York lawmaker to replace Cheney as the No. 3 Republican leader in the House.
The rising GOP star, who represents a swath of upstate spanning from Albany to the Canadian border, made it clear Thursday that she would rule differently than Cheney, who has repeatedly fought with Trump over his 2020 election fraud claims.
Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has insisted that Trump should play no role in the Republican Party after inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other GOP leaders rallied behind Cheney during an initial effort to oust her in February, but have since distanced themselves from the Wyoming representative.
Stefanik, a one-time moderate Republican, has used her newfound reputation as a Trump backer to rapidly consolidate support among the various conservative factions in the House GOP caucus.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), when asked about Stefanik on Wednesday, mused that Republicans were looking for someone more “compliant” than Cheney in their leadership ranks.
“Maybe she’s more, shall we say, compliant,” Pelosi told PBS NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff. “I don’t, it’s not my business, I don’t really know her.”
Stefanik retweeted the interview clip Thursday, calling Pelosi’s remarks a “sick sexist smear.”