The News
President Donald Trump’s White House is getting a bitter taste of what it’s like to try to elevate sitting members of Congress with a small majority.
Trump announced Thursday that he’s withdrawing his nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik as his ambassador to the United Nations — yanking away a plum prize for a Republican lawmaker who’d already given up her party leadership post. The New York Republican will now remain in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson says he “will invite her to return to the leadership table immediately.”
But the White House’s apparent scramble to ensure Republicans hold Stefanik’s upstate New York seat points to bigger problems ahead. With a five-seat House majority, Trump’s party is fretting over a special election next week to fill national security adviser Mike Waltz’s former seat, on top of the potential that Stefanik’s seat could become competitive.
In that context, Republicans described Stefanik’s withdrawal as for the good of the party.
“She would have done a really good job at the UN,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told reporters. But, he added, “we need as big a majority as we can” get.
Still, the decision shocked Senate Republicans, who were preparing to confirm her after next week’s Florida special elections. Stefanik had already been on ice for months as the House leadership wrestled with its tight majorities — despite being one of Trump’s first Cabinet-level selections and enjoying bipartisan support.
Senate Foreign Relations Chair Jim Risch, R-Idaho, broke the news to reporters leaving a GOP lunch; most members learned either from social media or from reporters in the Capitol hallways.
“First I’m hearing about it is from you. She’s highly qualified. I supported her all the way, cleared the way beautifully,” said Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo. “No second-guessing of the president, he makes his own decisions. But to me, she was eminently qualified.”
The House, where there are four open seats at the moment, will have to take a fresh vote on a budget proposal that unlocks Trump’s tax-cut plans after the Senate takes action as soon as April. Johnson prevailed on his first budget foray by only one vote, making clear how hard-fought a second go-round would be.
“With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “The people love Elise and, with her, we have nothing to worry about come Election Day.”
A White House official reinforced the importance of hanging on to every vote in the House, as Republicans continue deliberating a megabill that is set to include tax cuts, border security money and more.
“The real need for votes is about to start. That simple,” the official said, explaining her withdrawal.
Stefanik’s office declined to comment.
The New Yorker, who stepped down as House Republican Conference chair but has yet to resign from her House seat, was essentially a lock for confirmation. Risch’s committee advanced her selection by voice vote, which requires the implicit consent of all members, earlier this year.
“She must be so disappointed,” Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters. “She would have been easily confirmed in my view.”
Stefanik took a farewell tour through her district in February, thanking constituents and expressing gratitude to senior staffers.
Know More
Stefanik became a staunch Trump ally during his first impeachment trial in 2019. The shift from her formerly moderate political brand won her a spot on his vice presidential short list in 2024, even as Trump’s struggle to pronounce her name correctly in multiple speeches on the trail fueled some private speculation about the status of their relationship.
There had already been consternation about Stefanik’s planned departure after a Senate confirmation vote that was expected as soon as next week. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was expected to delay holding a special election to fill the reliably red seat, which would have further shrunk Johnson’s already small majority.
Stefanik had no problems winning reelection in her upstate New York district, and Trump carried it by 20 points in November. But his party has been running behind the 2024 margins in special elections this year.
On Tuesday, Pennsylvania Republicans lost a state senate seat that had supported Trump by 16 points. Party donors have scrambled to help Randy Fine, their nominee in the Florida district vacated by Waltz, ahead of next Tuesday’s special election — a race that neither party expected to be close.
Trump had carried that seat by 30 points, but Fine had run a lackluster campaign, and GOP turnout in early voting was low.
“There’s a lot of frustration here about overreach,” said Josh Weil, the Democrat running for the open Waltz seat, in an interview this week. “And we’re incredibly fortunate that my opponent gave us, really, about two months without any counter messaging or opposition.”
The View From Democrats
Congressional Democrats have wasted no time seizing on their Republican colleagues’ perceived paranoia. They say it’s an acknowledgment that voters are unhappy with what a GOP-controlled Washington has delivered so far.
“The Republican agenda is extremely unpopular, they are crashing the economy in real time and House Republicans are running scared,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in an emailed statement. “What happened to their so-called mandate?”
Eleanor, Kadia and Burgess’ View
It’s understandable that Trump and Johnson would be highly concerned about their slim voting margins in the House, though that pressure eased incrementally with the recent deaths of two Democratic members.
Given that Stefanik’s already waited months for a Senate floor vote, it’s a little puzzling that the president pulled her nomination now rather than waiting to see how the two Florida races go for Republicans.
Now Trump needs a new UN nominee and Stefanik will integrate herself back into the House. After this week, we wouldn’t expect his Stefanik replacement for that position to come from Congress.
David Weigel contributed to this report.
Notable
- It was no secret, long before November’s presidential election, that congressional margins of control could make it tough to tap sitting lawmakers, as Burgess and Kadia reported for Semafor last year.
- The now-scrapped special election to replace Stefanik was already heating up, according to Fox News.