The evolution of Elise Stefanik
WHEN ELISE STEFANIK WAS ELECTED TO THE HOUSE OF Representatives in 2014, she was hailed as the fresh face of the new GOP. Stefanik had run for office in her late 20s, determined to modernize the Republican Party to attract more women and appeal to her fellow millennials. In her victory speech, she praised her opponents for their good-faith participation in the miracle of American democracy. “No matter their party, our democratic process is strengthened by those individuals willing to put forth their ideas,” she said on the night she set a record as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.
Today, Stefanik is still a politician on the rise, but for very different reasons. Her colleagues elected her House GOP conference chair on May 14, making her the highest-ranking Republican woman in Congress. And she got there by lashing herself to a cause that undermines the same democratic process she once hoped to strengthen.
Stefanik replaced Representative Liz Cheney, who
