U.S. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik has officially launched her run for governor.
Stefanik has been teasing a run for governor for months, neither confirming nor denying an intention to run.
But that changed today, when the outspoken defender and ally of President Donald Trump made her announcement.
Afterwards, the 21st District Congresswoman appeared on the talk show Fox and Friends.
“I’m running for Governor to make New York affordable and safe; we have seen decades of single party rule led by Democrats and Kathy Hochul is the worst governor in America, New York is the most unaffordable state in the nation,” Stefanik said.
Hochul is firing back, drawing attention to Stefanik’s close relationship to President Trump — who lost to Kamala Harris in New York State in the 2024 election, 53% to 46%, and in 2016 to Hillary Clinton, 57 % to 33%.
An ad released today by Hochul’s re-election campaign blasted the gubernatorial hopeful.
Stefanik has been a staunch defender for much of Trump’s political career, but that hasn’t always been the case.
Before becoming Trump’s fervent ally, she had kept him at arm’s length.
Her shifting attitude toward Trump was documented on WAMC’s "Congressional Corner" when she appeared on the program multiple times between 2015 and 2017.
On Aug. 18, 2015, then-host Alan Chartock, asked Stefanik whether or not she thought Trump was insulting toward women.
“He has been insulting to women, I think that his comments about Megyn Kelly, who actually went to law school in Albany, so she is very familiar about upstate New York, I was deeply concerned about those comments and we are a long way out from the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire primary, I think this is Mr. Trump’s peak moment,” Stefanik said.
Earlier that month, Trump had made public comments about Kelly’s menstruation cycle, saying “you could see the blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”
Later in the interview, Chartock asked for Stefanik’s opinion on the 2016 presidential race.
“I’m watching the presidential race very closely in both parties, but I am not picking a horse as of yet,” Stefanik said.
Appearing on the program again on Dec. 2, 2015, the then-freshman Congresswoman said she was looking forward to embracing bipartisanship.
“There’s going to be an increasing willingness to work across the aisle, I think that is a characteristic of my generation and I am already finding that with some of the new colleagues on the Democratic side, we’re trying to work together on education policy for example,” Stefanik said.
After Trump won the presidency and began serving his first term, Stefanik appeared on the Congressional Corner again on Feb. 23, 2017, about a month after the new President was sworn in.
In that interview with Chartock, Stefanik was asked if she was pleased with the Trump administration:
“So, tell me are you either pleased or not pleased, or somewhere in the middle with what is going on with the Trump administration these days, a lot of people are talking about chaos, using big words like that, what do you think,” Chartock said.
“What I think is my job is to be the most effective member of Congress I can be and I am going to work with this administration on issues where I agree and where I disagree, I’ll continue saying that I disagree. I do think that as you’re going through the appointment process and filling these roles, which are incredibly important in a very large federal government, there could be some growing pains in the sense that getting the appointments through the Senate, which has been slower than at any other point in history, we need to make sure that we have personnel in these positions to ensure a smooth and effective and efficient federal government. But my role in Congress is to work with anybody, whether they are in the administration, whether they are Democrats in the Senate, Democrats in the House, my fellow Republicans on issues that are important to my district,” Stefanik said.
Those utterances are a stark contrast from the rhetoric of the now 10-year Republican Congresswoman who has repeatedly defended Trump and has become his close political ally.
Just last week, Stefanik appeared on Fox News’ “The Faulkner Focus” and commented on the government shutdown, which has now entered into its 38th day.
During the interview, she blamed Democrats.
“And the reality is, this is a Democrat Senate-led shutdown this is the same bill, it’s a clean funding bill that house Republicans passed that every Republican senator voted for. Democrats own this shutdown and its going to have real hurt across America. I’m already hearing from my constituents, whether it’s air traffic controllers, whether it’s TSA agents or whether it’s those on SNAP benefits who really need those lifelines. So, when we talk about Americans going hungry, this impacts every district across the country. Chuck Schumer needs to vote for the bill that, during Joe Biden’s presidency, he voted for 13 times, and now they are trying to leverage the American people to shut down the government,” Stefanik said.
Stefanik’s gubernatorial announcement means there are now officially three contenders vying for governor — Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
Correction: A previous version of this story identified Antonio Delgado as the former lieutenant governor. He is the current lieutenant governor of New York State.
