Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call
- Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York is now the third-highest ranking member of House GOP leadership.
- Stefanik was elected to conference chair Friday following Rep. Liz Cheney's ouster.
- The New York congresswoman won by a vote of 134 to 46.
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House Republicans on Friday elected Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York to the third-highest position in the conference.
Stefanik won the vote for conference chair by a 134 to 46 vote, according to reports from Capitol Hill.
She takes over following Wednesday's ouster of Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming.
A staunch Trump ally, Stefanik campaigned for the position as Cheney's standing among Republican colleagues waned after she repeatedly called out former President Donald Trump for his role in the Capitol riot and refused to echo his lies about the 2020 election being illegitimate.
-Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) May 14, 2021
In remarks after the vote tally came in, Stefanik compared her win to the upset victory of American revolutionaries over the British Empire at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777.
"At my home in Upstate New York, my husband and I live just a few miles from the Saratoga National Battlefield where 244 years ago, the founding of the Great American Experiment was in grave danger, hanging on by a thread as the prospects looked grim for those early patriots seeking to found a new country based on the ideals of liberty, freedom, and a limited government of the people, for the people, and by the people," Stefanik said upon her victory, according to Punchbowl News.
"Great Britain looked to finish off the war once and for all," she continued. "But the American patriots were disciplined and steadfast in carrying out their mission."
Trump backed Stefanik after she doubled down on his election lies, and she has never said President Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election. She has only gone as far as to refer to him as president in the present tense.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.