The White House has pulled Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination to be United Nations ambassador amid worries about the House’s narrow GOP majority, President Donald Trump announced Thursday.
The New York Republican, who had yet to resign her seat, was expected to be easily confirmed to the post, with more than enough votes to pass, but concern about Republicans’ narrow majority stalled her confirmation.
Trump said on Truth Social that he had asked Stefanik to stay in Congress to help him accomplish his agenda, calling her one of his “biggest allies.”
“With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat,” Trump wrote.
Stefanik is only the second of Trump’s Cabinet picks to have their nominations withdrawn. Former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration for attorney general in November after it became clear he would not have enough votes in the Senate to be confirmed.
The withdrawal underscores just how precarious an electoral environment Republicans believe themselves to be in, and how worried they are about losing even one vote of their razor-thin majority as they work to implement Trump’s legislative agenda. While Stefanik won reelection to her seat by 24 points last year, Republicans feared they could lose it it in the current political milieu.
The news that Stefanik’s nomination was in jeopardy was reported earlier Thursday by CBS. It was not immediately clear Thursday afternoon who the White House will put forward to fill the post.
Earlier in the day, Majority Leader Steve Scalise said his caucus was prepared to lose her, telegraphing optimism about two Florida special elections that will be held on April 1 that will boost the GOP’s numbers in the House.
“We’re going to get these two Florida elections … and then Elise ought to then be able to move forward,” Scalise said. “I hope she’s able to move forward right after that.”
“We’re going to have tight votes all the way through,” Scalise added.
Stefanik, who was elected to Congress in 2014 and is the highest-ranking Republican woman in the House, has been a longtime Trump ally. She came to prominence during his 2019 impeachment hearings as one of his most loyal and vocal defenders in her chamber.
Several current and former U.S. diplomats said the vacant ambassador post, based in New York, threatens to impede Trump’s MAGA foreign policy agenda.
“All these major powers like Russia and China have really seasoned heavy hitter diplomats installed in New York now, advancing their own agenda on the world stage, on Gaza or on Syria or on Ukraine or elsewhere,” said one former U.S. mission to the United Nations official. “Not having a confirmed ambassador for Trump in the seat is a huge gap for his administration’s interests.”
The withdrawal of Stefanik’s nomination also poses a staffing conundrum. The administration has already installed staff that Stefanik hand-picked from her Congressional office into positions at the State Department’s United Nations office in anticipation of her confirmation.
Robbie Gramer contributed to this report.
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