Trump Nominates Congresswoman Elise Stefanik for U.N. Ambassador Role
Rep. Elise Stefanik speaks before former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on October 27, 2024, in New York. Evan Vucci/AP
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik for the position of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
“I am honored to nominate House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik to serve in my administration as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is a strong and extremely smart fighter for America First,” Trump said in a statement, confirming a CNN report on Sunday that Stefanik had been offered the role.
Stefanik, a congresswoman from New York and the fourth-ranking Republican in the House, has been a staunch ally of the president-elect and a major fundraiser for the Republican Party.
As the chair of the House Republican Conference, Stefanik has been one of Trump’s most dedicated supporters in Congress for years. Her assertive performance during the 2019 impeachment hearings earned her the title of a “Republican star,” as Trump himself described at the time. She once again stood by Trump after his defeat in 2020, objecting to the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in the House and promoting Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud.
However, she wasn’t always Trump’s biggest supporter. The New York Republican, who was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress when she first won in 2014, opposed one of his key legislative achievements—his 2017 tax plan. Describing herself as an “independent voice” and showing a moderate stance, she previously received high praise from former House Speaker Paul Ryan, who wrote in Time magazine that Stefanik was a “builder—a tough feat in an era where so much of politics is tearing people down.” She had worked with Ryan during Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign.
Stefanik was initially skeptical of Trump—and at times an outspoken critic—during his 2016 presidential campaign and the early days of his presidency. She transitioned from critic to defender, a shift she explained was driven by Trump’s popularity in her northern New York district.
As Trump pursued the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Stefanik was considered among his potential running mates, a role she openly expressed interest in. Earlier this year, she told CNN she was “proud to be a senior deputy” and “would proudly serve in a future Trump administration.”
Stefanik succeeded then-Representative Liz Cheney as the chair of the House Republican Conference in May 2021 after Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming, criticized Trump’s false claims about the election. Stefanik is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, among other committees. She made headlines last year for campaigning to remove college leaders who, in her view, did not sufficiently condemn anti-Semitism during a House hearing on the issue.
On Saturday, Trump said in a social media post that he “would not ask” Nikki Haley, who served as U.N. Ambassador during his first administration, to return. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, had run a contentious primary campaign against Trump before withdrawing and eventually endorsing him after several months.
This story has been updated with additional details and developments.
