White House Withdrawing Stefanik Nomination for U.S. Ambassador to UN
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-ID) confirmed that the White House has removed Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) from consideration for the U.S. ambassador post to the United Nations.
From The Hill:
“I got a call from the White House,” Risch said after walking out of a Senate Republican luncheon.He said he was told “that they were pulling the nomination.”“I was informed that just minutes ago,” he said, adding he hadn’t yet had “a chance” to formulate a reaction.
Last month Republican New York Assemblyman Matt Slater accused New York Democrats of scheming to keep Stefanik’s seat for months:
Slater, who serves as the ranking Republican on the state’s Election Law Committee, was reacting to state Democrats working to introduce legislation that could keep Stefanik’s House seat vacant until June, when the state holds its scheduled primary elections. Stefanik is in the midst of her confirmation process to serve in the Trump administration and is expected to resign her House seat if the Senate confirms her as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
I think that is why Stefanik did not resign from her seat, which she retained in November:
Under current law, New York’s governor has 10 days to declare a special election for a vacant seat and an additional 80 to 90 days to hold the election. Stefanik’s seat is key for the Republican Party and Trump’s second administration, as Republicans hold a slim majority at 218 members to the Democrats’ 215 members.
It’s a pretty easy seat for the Republicans.
However, there is turmoil within New York Republicans because supposedly one Republican candidate, state Sen. Dan Stec, threatened to run as a third-party candidate if he did not win the Republican primary.
The state’s Conservative Party favored Stec despite him not supporting Trump and taking sides with the state’s Democrats.
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