Trump pulls Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination to be U.N. ambassador

Trump said Stefanik will remain in the House, where Republicans have a razor-thin majority.

President Donald Trump said Thursday he was pulling the nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, citing concerns about the House’s slim margin to enact his legislative agenda.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Stefanik “will stay in Congress” after her nomination for the administration post had stalled for months.

“I have asked Elise, as one of my biggest Allies, to remain in Congress to help me deliver Historic Tax Cuts, GREAT Jobs, Record Economic Growth, a Secure Border, Energy Dominance, Peace Through Strength, and much more, so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat. The people love Elise and, with her, we have nothing to worry about come Election Day.”

“There are others that can do a good job at the United Nations,” the president continued. “Therefore, Elise will stay in Congress, rejoin the House Leadership Team, and continue to fight for our amazing American People. Speaker Johnson is thrilled!”

It’s unclear what House leadership role she would have. Stefanik previously had served as chair of the House Republican Conference, the No. 4 leadership spot, making her the highest-ranking GOP woman on Capitol Hill. But she gave up the post this year after Trump chose her to be U.N. ambassador.

Stefanik said during a Fox News interview Thursday night that the decision to pull her nomination stemmed in part from a narrow margin for Republicans in the House.

“I’ve been in the House. It’s tough to count these votes every day,” Stefanik said.

In a post on X, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he would invite Stefanik “to return to the leadership table immediately.”

“It is well known Republicans have a razor-thin House majority, and Elise’s agreement to withdraw her nomination will allow us to keep one of the toughest, most resolute members of our Conference in place to help drive forward President Trump’s America First policies,” Johnson said.

CBS News was first to report that Trump was considering withdrawing her nomination.

The unexpected development marks a significant blow to Stefanik, a Trump loyalist and rising star in the party. Stefanik was reported favorably out of the Foreign Relations Committee at the end of January, but never received a confirmation vote in the full Senate.

Stefanik’s Instagram stories on Thursday featured highlights of her decadelong congressional career. One House Republican close to her said Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., had informed lawmakers he was planning to host a going-away party for Stefanik on Monday.

Senate Republicans had anticipated Stefanik would be easily confirmed.

“She must be so disappointed. She would have been easily confirmed in my view,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said after the news broke. “I thought she was a great nominee.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., chalked up Stefanik’s withdrawl to the “political realities that they’re grappling with in the House right now.”

“Every vote counts,” Thune said.

While nearly all other of Trump’s high-level administration appointments have been confirmed by the Senate, the upper chamber has slow-walked Stefanik’s confirmation for weeks due to concerns over House Republicans’ narrow majority.

The GOP currently controls 218 seats in the House to 213 for the Democrats, meaning the speaker can only afford a minimum of two defections on votes. Republicans are hoping to add reinforcements after next week’s special elections to fill two vacant deep-red House seats in Florida.

But there is concern in the party that the race in Florida’s 6th Congressional District for a seat previously held by Michael Waltz, who is now the national security adviser, is more competitive than expected after the Democratic candidate posted a massive fundraising haul.

Stefanik cited “special elections” in her Fox News comments, without specifying the Florida race.

Had Stefanik been confirmed to the U.N. ambassador post, it would have opened up another GOP-held seat and set up a special election in upstate New York that may not have taken place for months. Trump’s Truth Social post hinted at concerns about holding the seat, even though he easily carried it in the 2024 election.

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella said of Stefanik’s district: “We’d win this seat in a special election, and we’ll win it in a general election.”

On multiple occasions this year, Trump and Johnson have needed Stefanik’s vote to advance Trump’s agenda.

On Feb. 25, House Republicans adopted a budget resolution with zero votes to spare, a critical step to begin the process to pass Trump’s sweeping border, energy and tax policy plans.

And just this month, the House narrowly voted to pass a six-month GOP funding bill to avert a government shutdown, jamming Senate Democrats who despised the proposal.

In the coming months, House Republicans will face another difficult gantlet as they try to pass their reconciliation package that contains many of Trump’s 2024 campaign promises.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said the move shows the political tide is turning against the GOP.

“Donald Trump won the Elise Stefanik district by 21 points in November 2024. He withdrew her nomination to be U.N. Ambassador because the extremists are afraid they will lose the special election to replace her,” Jeffries said in a statement. “The Republican agenda is extremely unpopular, they are crashing the economy in real time and House Republicans are running scared. What happened to their so-called mandate?”

Early in her political career, Stefanik worked in the George W. Bush White House and later worked on the Romney-Ryan campaign in 2012.

Stefanik was just 30 when she was first elected to the House, making history at the time as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She previously served as a co-chair of the Tuesday Group, a bloc of moderate House Republicans.

But with Trump’s rise, Stefanik fashioned herself as a conservative MAGA warrior. Already popular in Trump world, her star rose even further in 2023 when she pointedly questioned the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Institute of Technology over their policies and handling of antisemitic incidents on their campuses.

University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and Harvard President Claudine Gay both resigned following the hearing.