Elise Stefanik, the Congressperson from New York’s 21st district, is Trump’s nominee to serve as United Nations ambassador. She did not resign so she is still NY-21’s Republican representative, and the plan was to confirm her in the Senate next week to set up a special election to replace her sometime in July. According to CBS News’ senior White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs, “Elise Stefanik’s nomination for UN ambassador is in jeopardy as pressure mounts for her to back away from the UN ambassador position, partly because Republicans hold a small majority in the US House.”
Stefanik won this district by 24 points in 2024 and 20 points in 2022. She has easily won her elections in this district every cycle since she first won in 2014, and NY-21 hasn’t voted for a Democratic president since 2012. This is by every definition of the term, a safe Republican district, which is part of why Trump chose her to serve in his administration. The assumption was that they could just replace Stefanik with another Republican in a special election and keep their slim House majority. That is now in doubt, apparently.
Given that Stefanik has proven to be one of Trump’s most loyal lieutenants, this is the only interpretation to take from this reported delay, especially since Jacobs added “partly because Republicans hold a small majority in the US House” to her report. The fear her replacement will lose to a Democrat in a deep-red district is a real one in Trump circles right now, and given that Democrats are running 10 percent ahead of their 2024 results so far in 2025’s special elections, there is plenty of reason to believe this report is true.
Authoritarianism is firmly here in America, and doomers have certainly tried to make the case that elections are trivial in Trump’s ideal world, but we don’t live in that world yet, and even if we do wind up in it, a cursory study of authoritarian regimes throughout history reveals how central public support is to keep the crime spree going. We are less than 100 days into Trump’s second term and two deep red districts have already flipped, and Republicans are reportedly concerned about another. Trump is not remotely close to being as popular as he wants people to think, and anyone assuming this to be the case is rejecting objective reality to aid Trump’s propaganda.
UPDATE: It’s happening!
Senate Foreign Relations Chair Risch says the White House is pulling Stefanik nomination
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev.bsky.social) March 27, 2025 at 11:56 AM
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