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Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., on Friday announced that she is ending her bid for New York State governor and will not seek reelection, just over a month after formally launching her campaign.
In a message posted to X, Stefanik cited her family as her reason for stepping out of the 2026 race to unseat Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
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“While spending precious time with my family this Christmas season, I have made the decision to suspend my campaign for Governor and will not seek reelection to Congress. I did not come to this decision lightly for our family,” she wrote on X.
“And while many know me as Congresswoman, my most important title is Mom,” she added. “I believe that being a parent is life’s greatest gift and greatest responsibility. I have thought deeply about this and I know that as a mother, I will feel profound regret if I don’t further focus on my young son’s safety, growth, and happiness – particularly at his tender age.”
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Stefanik, a top congressional supporter of President Donald Trump, was praised by the president.
“Elise Stefanik, a fantastic person and Congresswoman from New York State, has just announced she won’t be running for Governor,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Elise is a tremendous talent, regardless of what she does. She will have GREAT success, and I am with her all the way!”
After ramping up for months, Stefanik officially declared her candidacy for governor in November with a platform centered on crime, taxes and affordability across the Empire State.
And Stefanik, who represents a conservative-leaning district in upstate New York, was a vocal critic of Hochul, who is seeking a second four-year term after being sworn in August 2021 as New York’s first female governor, after Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned in disgrace amid multiple scandals.
The now-41-year-old Stefanik, a Harvard graduate who worked as a staffer in then-President George W. Bush’s administration and later as an aide on the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan 2012 GOP presidential ticket, made history in 2014 as the youngest woman ever elected to the U.S. House.
A one-time moderate Republican, Stefanik transformed herself into a MAGA champion during Trump’s first term in the White House, rising through the ranks of GOP leadership in the chamber. Her loyalty to Trump, including defending him during the first of his two impeachments, appeared to pay off after he won back the presidency in the 2024 election. Trump nominated Stefanik to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a high-profile cabinet-level position.
But Trump, concerned about the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the chamber, in March rescinded the nomination, worrying that Republicans could lose Stefanik’s seat to the Democrats in a special election.
While Stefanik remained in the House, and GOP leaders created a new leadership position for her, she soon eyed running for New York governor in 2026, with Trump’s encouragement.
Another potential GOP Republican gubernatorial contender, Rep. Mike Lawler, announced during the summer that he would seek reelection in the House rather than bid for governor.
But Nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman, another Trump ally, last week jumped into the GOP race after mulling a bid for months.
Trump stayed neutral, telling reporters at the White House after Blakeman announced his candidacy that “Elise is fantastic and Bruce is.”
“Two fantastic people, and I always hate it when two very good friends of mine are running, and I hope there’s not a lot of damage done,” the president added.
Even though Stefanik was the clear polling and fundraising frontrunner for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, those in her political orbit told Fox News Digital Stefanik was concerned that a primary battle would make her uphill climb against Hochul in blue-leaning New York ever steeper.
In her message, Stefanik thanked her supporters for their donations but said it wouldn’t be an “effective use of our time or your generous resources to spend the first half of next year in an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary, especially in a challenging state like New York.”
Blakeman, in a statement, applauded Stefanik “for her outstanding service to the people of New York and to all Americans” and called her “a strong voice for common-sense values, national security, and economic opportunity.”
As she eyed a run for governor, Stefanik argued in a Fox News Digital interview in June that Hochul was “the worst governor in America.” It’s a line she would repeatedly use in the ensuing months.
And Stefanik, aiming to paint the governor as an extremist, regularly tied Hochul to now-Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani of New York City, a socialist and the first Muslim mayor of the nation’s most populous city.
But Trump seemingly undercut Stefanik’s messaging that Mamdani was a “jihadist” after a cordial embrace of the mayor-elect during an Oval Office meeting after his New York City victory.
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Democratic Governors Association spokesperson Kevin Donohoe, reacting to the news, claimed that Stefanik “saw the writing on the wall and knew she would lose — big — to Governor Hochul.”
The governor’s campaign, in a statement, argued that “Stefanik has finally acknowledged reality: If you run against Governor Kathy Hochul, you are going to lose.”
And Hochul campaign spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki called Blakeman “100% MAGA.”
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