After months of deliberation, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is no longer being considered for the position of United Nations ambassador, as President Donald Trump abruptly withdraws the nomination on Thursday.
Burgess Everett, a Semafor reporter, confirmed that Stefanik’s nomination was withdrawn and that the White House informed Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that the New York Republican will remain in her House of Representatives seat.
According to NOTUS reporter Reese Gorman, Stefanik, who previously chaired the House Republican Conference, “gave up her leadership position” after Trump nominated her and will return to the House “as a rank-and-file member.”
“[Stefanik] must be so disappointed,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told NBC’s Frank Thorp V. “She would have been easily confirmed, in my view.”
Trump stated on his Truth Social account that his primary motivation for withdrawing Stefanik’s nomination was his concern about jeopardizing the slim Republican majority in the House. He began his post by stating that it was “essential that we maintain EVERY Republican seat in Congress.”
“With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat,” Trump wrote. “There are others that can do a good job at the United Nations.”
Many political observers speculated that Trump was far more concerned than he let on about next week’s special elections for vacant House seats in the Sunshine State.
Democrats are vastly out-raising their Republican opponents in Florida’s 1st and 6th congressional districts, with the goal of causing massive upsets in the typically deep-red districts.
Matt Rice, the New York Sun’s Washington correspondent, tweeted that Trump had expressed “out loud” concern that Democrats could flip Stefanik’s reliably Republican district.
Former President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, Jim Messina, believes Trump’s decision to withdraw Stefanik’s nomination demonstrates that Republicans are “freaking out about the [Florida] specials in very red districts.”
“They are afraid of losing a special election in a +21 Trump district,” said author Colin Dickey on Bluesky. “They want you to believe they are invincible and that it is not worth fighting back. But behind the scenes, they are soaked in enough flop sweat to power a dam.
“They could have fessed up about the Signal goof or shown some accountability, but instead they are pulling nominees because they know they are losing ground with the electorate,” Bloomberg opinion columnist Conor Sen skeeted.
Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia, commented on X that “in a special election environment when Rs are concerned about a Trump +30 seat, a Trump +20ish seat could have been dicey.”
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) simply responded to Stefanik’s withdrawal with three emojis: a fist, an American flag, and a fire, presumably in reference to National Security Advisor Mike Waltz’s use of the same emojis in the recently leaked war plans chat on Signal.
“To be perfectly honest, this is the first data point in months that gives me a genuine sense of hope,” historian Paul Cohen wrote on Bluesky.
“First undeniably bad week for the administration so far, no?” David Weigel, a Semafor reporter, got skeeted.
