Representative Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) returned to serve in House GOP leadership, albeit in a new role, on Wednesday after President Donald Trump withdrew her nomination to be the next United Nations ambassador over concerns of a slim Republican majority in the lower chamber of Congress.
Stefanik will now serve as the chairwoman of House Republican leadership, a Speaker-appointed position that is often left vacant. She previously served as the GOP conference chairwoman, which Representative Lisa McClain (R., Mich.) now holds, before abandoning the post for the U.N. ambassador nomination.
“I am honored to be appointed Chairwoman of House Republican Leadership,” Stefanik said in a statement, “to lead House Republicans in implementing President Donald Trump’s mandate from the American people for an America First agenda that includes securing our borders, strengthening our national security, growing our economy, and combating the scourge of antisemitism across our country.”
In late March, Trump announced that Stefanik would stay in Congress to deliver on his administration’s agenda. The decision came days before two special elections were held for open House seats in Florida. Republicans remained worried about losing those seats, but they ultimately won both of those races.
New York would have held a special election for Stefanik’s seat upon her resignation and confirmation, if she had become the U.N. ambassador. Trump has not formally announced a replacement for the nomination.
Stefanik currently represents New York’s 21st congressional district, a Republican seat she safely won in November with 62 percent of the vote.
A press release issued by Stefanik’s office states that the revived position, in which the lawmaker is now serving, is “focused on strategy, communications, and executing on the mandate from the American people to pass President Trump’s agenda.”
Stefanik will also return to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Armed Services Committee, and the House Education and the Workforce Committee.
On the lattermost committee, Stefanik was one of the Republican lawmakers who led the charge in advocating for change against antisemitism on college campuses. She gained national attention in late 2023 after she questioned the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about their school policies on rampant campus antisemitism following Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
Stefanik’s return to Congress means that House Republicans can’t afford to lose more than three votes on any given measure. Also on Wednesday, the lower chamber passed a procedural vote by 216–215 to tee up the Senate-approved budget resolution for a floor debate and final vote. If Stefanik had been absent and hadn’t voted in favor of advancing the bill, the procedural vote would have failed.