Trump yanks Elise Stefanik UN nomination over GOP House worries

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Mar 27, 2025

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Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination as United Nations ambassador was abruptly withdrawn by President Donald Trump on Thursday as Republicans worry over their narrow majority in the House of Representatives.

Trump admitted he was pulling the switcheroo to avoid the risk of losing the upstate New York Republican’s pivotal seat as the GOP seeks to push his agenda through Congress with only the slimmest of margins.

“I have asked (Stefanik) as one of my biggest allies, to remain in Congress,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “With a very tight majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat.”

No replacement was immediately named. Stefanik had been expected to cruise to an easy confirmation to the U.N. post.

GOP strategists worry that the party will need every possible vote to win forthcoming House votes on Trump’s controversial plans for huge cuts in spending and tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations.

The Republican majority in the lower chamber now sits at just five votes, which the GOP hopes to pad to seven when Florida holds two special elections next week to fill vacancies in deep-red districts.

Two other seats were left vacant when Democratic lawmakers died. Those districts are almost certainly to be reclaimed by Team Blue when upcoming special elections are held to fill them.

Trump’s move to pull the plug on Stefanik’s appointment spotlights the major wave of Democratic wins in special elections across the nation since Trump returned to the White House.

Democrats narrowly flipped a state Senate seat in conservative Lancaster County, Pa. that had been held by Republicans for more than a century. The upset marks a 16% swing to Democrats compared to Trump’s win in the same district in November.

Two little-known Iowa state legislature districts and one in Maine recently saw similar shifts toward Democrats.

Dissatisfaction with Trump since his reelection is running especially strong among highly educated and more-affluent voters, polls say.

Those are the very same demographic groups that are notably more likely to participate in special elections, which generally attract much lower turnout votes held during normal midterm or presidential elections.

The political environment reminds some analysts of 2017. Republicans suffered a string of punishing defeats during Trump’s first months in office, including the shocking loss of a U.S. Senate race in Alabama and the victory of ex-Rep. Conor Lamb in a western Pennsylvania district.

Those Democratic wins set the stage for further big gains in the 2018 midterms.