The third top ranking House Republican is reportedly planning to flood $100 million of campaign dollars into strategic districts in her home state of New York to hold off the Democratic there offensive next year.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, who’s made her northern New York district – which runs through the Adirondacks not far from the Canadian border – a lock for the GOP, revealed her plans in a recent interview with Politico.
Stefanik said she recently brought House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to the Hamptons for a previously unreported fundraiser with wealthy Long Island donors and shared a vast digital database of contributors with the state GOP. Her strategy is to flood key New York swing districts with $100 million in campaign funding, as the Republican control of the House and her own political future depend on the Empire State holding ground.
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Last year, the GOP flipped three battleground U.S. House seats in the Hudson Valley and Long Island. After previously supporting Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., in 2022, she is not allowing Long Island Republicans decide his congressional fate as he battles federal indictment.
“It’s a guerilla warfare mentality,” an unnamed Stefanik advisor told Politico of the congresswoman’s pledge to ensure her Republican New York colleagues have the resources to win.
“I’ve been underestimated from the beginning,” Stefanik reportedly told Politico from a dairy farm in her district. “That’s been a trend my entire time in Congress.”
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More than a year out from 2024 election day, Republican campaign offices are popping up in the Hudson Valley, central New York and Long Island seeding with GOP staffers. Stefanik, who has been a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, will lead the Republican charge in New York at the same time Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries plans an offensive to regain lost seats from last cycle.
New York GOP chairman Ed Cox told Politico that Stefanik’s involvement “is a tremendous asset to our party not just nationally, but here in New York state.”
The $100 million to be raised through a coordinated effort with the Republican National Committee will help bolster first-year Republican Reps. Mike Lawler and Marc Molinaro in the Hudson Valley; Long Island’s Anthony D’Esposito and Brandon Williams in Central New York. Stefanik vowed to raise at least $150,000 for each vulnerable new lawmaker, and Republicans also have their sights on taking on first-term Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan in the Hudson Valley, who won a special election a year ago.