Biography

Elise Marie Stefanik (born July 2, 1984) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 21st congressional district since 2015. As chair of the House Republican Conference since 2021, she is the fourth-ranking House Republican. Stefanik's district covers most of the North Country and the Adirondack Mountains, some of the outer suburbs of Utica and the Capital District in New York. Stefanik was 30 when first elected in the 2014 U.S. House of Representatives elections in New York (District 21), the youngest woman elected to Congress at the time. Initially elected as a moderate conservative, Stefanik has shifted increasingly to the political right, aligning herself with then-President Donald Trump. She strongly opposed the first impeachment of Trump in 2019 amid the Trump–Ukraine scandal and backed Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, objecting to Pennsylvania's electoral votes after Trump supporters were involved in the 2021 United States Capitol attack. As the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack began to investigate, Stefanik said that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was responsible. Stefanik was elected chair of the House Republican Conference in May 2021 after incumbent Liz Cheney was removed due to her opposition to Trump. Stefanik has come under heavy criticism for her strong support of controversial Representative George Santos.