Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York is being floated as a potential 2024 running rate for Donald Trump should he decide to enter the race.
Trump has given every indication that he will run based on multiple public statements.
CNN reported that current and former advisers in Trump’s orbit have argued that Stefanik — who has been fiercely loyal to the 45th president and replaced Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming as the No. 3 ranking Republican last year — would be a strong choice to join him on the Republican ticket.
“Two people familiar with the matter said Trump has been surveying close friends and allies on what they think of Stefanik, one of several Republican women he is possibly eyeing for the potential VP slot, though he has not ruled out a few male contenders, too,” according to CNN.
One of those sources said Trump believes Stefanik has left the moderate wing of the party and is now firmly in the “America First” camp.
“There is a part of Trump who thinks he needs a female VP. He definitely likes her, likely because of how effusive she is to him,” one Trump adviser told CNN.
Longtime Trump friend, Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy added, “President Trump thinks very highly of Elise Stefanik. … She has been talked about in circles close to him as a potential vice presidential.”
“And there’s a feeling among a lot of people on the Republican side that they need to have a woman on the ticket this time.”
On a recent episode of the Fox News program “Life, Liberty & Levin,” Stefanik sounded like someone who is very comfortable being associated among the MAGA ranks.
Do you think Trump should pick Stefanik?
Asked by host Mark Levin about what she thought of the Jan. 6 committee, Stefanik said, “This is an attack on all Trump voters and really it’s a partisan attempt by Nancy Pelosi, for her handpicked members of Congress to go after President Trump and all Republicans because they know they’re going to lose at the ballot box this November.”
The 37-year-old further stated that the entire undertaking is another example of “Trump derangement syndrome” among Democrats because they are “losing on every single issue, whether it’s border security, the economy, national security.”
“So they’re obsessed with continuing to go after President Trump,” Stefanik said.
She also agreed with Levin that Pelosi’s conduct leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, deserves closer scrutiny.
“Her office is off limits. Why? Because they know that she was offered the National Guard from the president of the United States and that they failed to secure the Capitol because of their concern with political optics. There needs to be accountability here,” Stefanik said.
The House Intelligence Committee member was one of Trump’s fiercest defenders during the Democrats’ first impeachment of him in the fall of 2019.
Stefanik did vote against Trump’s signature Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, citing the state and local tax deductions limits filers could claim, a big issue in the high-tax state of New York.
However, in an interview on Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow” on Wednesday, she committed to making the Trump tax cuts permanent, should the Republicans retake Congress.
“That’s going to be a big part of the House Republicans’ agenda, and I believe it’s a big unifier issue among elected House Republicans, but more importantly for the American people, who are facing tough economic times,” Stefanik said.
Unlike former Vice President Mike Pence, Stefanik does not have close ties to the evangelical wing of the GOP.
She was one of 47 Republican members to vote to codify same-sex marriage earlier this month, an issue important to many Christians.
Other prominent Republican women being mentioned as a potential Trump running mates include Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Working against Haley was her harsh criticism of Trump in a Politico interview following the Jan. 6 incursion.
She suggested his future in the Republican Party was over.
