Another woman has joined President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet in his incoming administration.
As you may recall, Trump appointed Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff, making her the first woman to hold this prominent position.
Now, New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik has been named ambassador to the United Nations.
Her appointment comes after Trump, on Saturday in a social media post said that he “will not be inviting” back Nikki Haley, who served as UN ambassador under his first administration.
As the fourth-ranking House Republican, she has been a strong ally of the president-elect and a significant fundraiser for the GOP.
At just 39 years old, Rep. Elise Stefanik has quickly risen to the upper echelons of Congress, an institution not typically associated with youth.
How did Stefanik rise to the national scene at such a young age? Here’s all you need to know about Elise Stefanik.
Who is Elise Stefanik?
Stefanik was born in Albany, New York, on July 2, 1984, to parents Melanie and Kenneth Stefanik.
She graduated from the Albany Academy for Girls before attending Harvard College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in government in 2006.
On August 19, 2017, in Saratoga Springs, New York, she married Matthew Manda. The couple has one child, Samuel Albritton, who was born in 2021.
Stefanik rose to the national scene 10 years ago
When she won office at the age of 30, Stefanik made history as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, a record later surpassed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Stefanik worked in domestic and economic policy at the White House under former President George W. Bush before joining the 2012 Romney-Ryan presidential campaign.
In August 2013, Stefanik announced her candidacy for the 2014 election for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York’s 21st congressional district.
She won the 2014 Republican primary against Matt Doheny, making her, at age 30, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress at that time.
She ran for reelection in 2016, facing Democratic nominee Mike Derrick and Green Party nominee Matt Funiciello in the general election, which she won.
In 2017, former UN ambassador John Bolton endorsed her for reelection, praising her contributions on the House Armed Services Committee. Stefanik was successfully reelected.
She managed to secure her seat despite not having deep roots in her district. Originally from Albany, she had only recently relocated to Willsboro in Essex County, where her family owned a vacation home.
She hasn’t always been on Team Trump
In 2016, Stefanik notably avoided using Trump’s name, but by 2024, she has been actively campaigning for him in New Hampshire.
At that time, when Trump was competing for the Republican nomination, she only pledged to “support my party’s nominee in the fall” without mentioning him directly.
When a recording surfaced later that year featuring Trump making derogatory comments about women, she described his words as “inappropriate, offensive,” and “just wrong.”
Stefanik also expressed disagreement with his views on NATO and his comments regarding a Gold Star military family who lost their son in Iraq.
In 2017, she criticized Trump for withdrawing the U.S. from an important international climate agreement, emphasizing the need for the U.S. to maintain an “influential seat at the table.”
She linked her priorities of business innovation and lower carbon emissions to the quality of life in her district.
Earlier in 2016, she also opposed Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., arguing it contradicted the Constitution, and at that time, she didn’t believe Trump would secure the nomination.
Stefanik, who was once a skeptic and even a critic of Trump during his 2016 campaign and the early part of his presidency, transitioned from being a detractor to a defender, partly because of Trump’s popularity in her upstate New York district.
As Trump pursued the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, she emerged as one of the potential running mates and actively sought that role.
In May 2021, she took over as GOP conference chair from then-Rep. Liz Cheney after Cheney publicly challenged Trump regarding his election falsehoods.
Stefanik serves on the Armed Services Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, among other committees.
Last year, she made headlines with her efforts to remove college leaders who she felt did not sufficiently denounce antisemitism during a House hearing on the issue.
Olekanma Favour is a resourceful, self-motivated, and result-driven writer with a passion for crafting compelling narratives and insightful content. She loves tackling complex topics and weaving engaging stories.
When she’s not writing, Olekanma enjoys immersing herself in a good book, exploring new cuisines, and discovering new cultures.