Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Jan. 21, 2025. President Donald Trump nominated Stefanik to be the next ambassador to the United Nations. Stefanik was President Trump's first cabinet pick after being reelected.

New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, a prominent ally of President Donald Trump, plans to announce her candidacy for governor of the Empire State on Nov. 7.

Her long-anticipated challenge to Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul was reported in the New York Post on Nov. 6.

"We have crisscrossed the state. The overwhelming outpouring of support from Republicans, independents, and Democrats is that we need a new governor to save our state," Stefanik told the Post, while ripping Hochul. "She owns the catastrophe from top to bottom."

The five-term member of the House of Representatives was until this year the fourth-ranking member of the Republican caucus. She gained recognition in her party by staunchly defending Trump during his first impeachment trial.

Remaking herself from a moderate in a rural, upstate New York district carried by former President Barack Obama, she followed her constituency rightward.

As her district swung decisively towards Trump in 2016 and even more so in subsequent elections, Stefanik remade herself into an aggressive partisan warrior. For example, she has inaccurately referred to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani as a "Jihadist and terrorist sympathizer Commie Mamdani."

Stefanik is expected to make her announcement via video, the Post reported. Asked the same day on Fox News' "The Story" about whether she is running, she implied that she is.

"We will have great news on that issue," she said. "People are looking for strong commonsense leadership to be a check on this radical insanity that we're seeing play out in New York City with Zohran Mamdani."

Stefanik would be the first GOP governor in New York since George Pataki, who served from 1995 to 2007.

Stefanik also would be the first woman to serve as the Republican nominee for New York governor if she wins the state primary in 2026. Hochul, who served as lieutenant governor, became the first female New York governor after then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned in 2021 amid a sexual harassment scandal.

Hochul was elected to a full term, defeating Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin in a close race in 2022.

During a fundraising luncheon in Erie County in July, Stefanik told attendees that it was not a question of if she was running for New York governor, but when she would make an announcement. Last month, Stefanik held a slim one-point lead in a poll of registered voters conducted by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. However, Hochul had a significant lead over Stefanik in a similar poll conducted by Siena College in September.

Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Kevin Donohoe said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY on Nov. 7 that Stefanik won’t fare well against Hochul.

Stefanik's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Kevin Donohoe said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY on Nov. 7 that Stefanik won’t fare well against Hochul in the heavily Democratic state.

“Elise Stefanik has spent her career selling out New Yorkers to Donald Trump — and that is exactly why she is going to lose to Kathy Hochul next November. From gutting health care to backing cost-raising tariffs, Stefanik’s record as Trump’s cheerleader in chief could not be more toxic with New York voters,” Donohoe said. “It’s no wonder even Republicans have admitted that ‘Ultra MAGA’ Stefanik is a uniquely flawed general election candidate. Bring it on, Elise.”

Larger ambitions

Stefanik has had her eye on higher-profile positions in recent years. She was a rumored contender to be Trump's running mate in 2024.

She declined to run for reelection as House Republican conference chair after being nominated by Trump to be ambassador to the United Nations. Trump later withdrew her nomination amid concerns about Republicans retaining their slim House majority and Stefanik was given an honorary GOP House leadership position.

Stefanik has harshly criticized Hochul and Mamdani

Stefanik has been critical of both Hochul and Mamdani, whom the governor endorsed for mayor, in recent months.

"New York State is single-party Democrat rule," the congresswoman told The Post. "Under Kathy Hochul’s failed leadership, New York is the most unaffordable state in the nation, with the highest taxes, highest utility and energy prices, highest rent, and it’s why people are leaving in mass exodus."

Stefanik told the Post that Mamdani "is a socialist, he is a defund the police, communist, anti-Semite, pro-Hamas, and Kathy Hochul hasn’t condemned a single statement he has made."

Mamdani has denied allegations of antisemitism or support any terrorist organization, calling such accusations Islamophobic smears based on his Muslim faith.

"(Hochul) is universally disliked, particularly among Democrats," Stefanik said. "We’re in the position where we will unify immediately Republicans and conservatives and independents and those disaffected Democrats who felt the party’s left them."

New York state Democratic Committee spokesperson Addison Dick said Stefanik's association with Trump would be a major liability in the race.

"Elise Stefanik is a rubber stamp in Washington for Trump’s deeply unpopular agenda that is raising costs, gutting health care, and defunding New York schools, hospitals, and police," Dick said. "Voters in New York and across the country rejected Trump and his enablers earlier this week, and Stefanik will face the same fate when she launches her campaign to put Trump ahead of New Yorkers."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Prominent Trump ally Rep. Elise Stefanik to announce run for New York governor: NY Post

Reporting by Terry Collins, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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