Rep. Elise Stefanik eyes New York governor seat in 2026, sources say

Rep. Elise Stefanik, a key Republican ally of President Donald Trump, is considering a run for governor of New York, a source familiar with her thinking told ABC News.

Stefanik's office didn't immediately comment.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is running for reelection in 2026 in the Empire State and is vying for her second full term in office.

President Donald Trump nominated Stefanik to be the United Nations ambassador and she was replaced as House Republican Conference Chair by Michigan Rep. Lisa McClain.

However, on March 27, a week before her Senate confirmation vote, Trump announced that he was withdrawing her nomination, citing the razor-thin Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

"There are others that can do a good job at the United Nations. Therefore, Elise will stay in Congress, rejoin the House Leadership Team, and continue to fight for our amazing American People," Trump said on Truth Social.

"This is about stepping up as a team, and I am doing that as a leader, to ensure that we can take hold of this mandate and deliver these historic results," Stefanik told Fox News that evening.

Addison Dick, a spokesman for the New York State Democrats, dismissed the news of Stefanik's possible run, claiming in a statement that the New York GOP "can't field a serious candidate from their pathetic crew of Trump minions."

"New Yorkers want nothing to do with the clown show of Trump loyalists who are only focused on enabling Trump's agenda that is raising costs, gutting health care, and attacking New Yorkers’ freedoms," he said in a statement.

The upstate New York congresswoman has been rising among the ranks on the Hill for her hard conservative stances.

She played a key role in the congressional response to antisemitism on college campuses amid the Israel-Hamas war. She's also accused the United Nations of antisemitism.

Although largely Democratic, New York state has seen voters shift red over the last couple of years.

Hochul won the 2022 election with just 377,834 votes, roughly 53% of the total vote, beating then U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin. In the 2018 election, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo won with over 1.4 million votes, roughly 59.55% of the total vote, beating then-Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro.