Rumors Are Flying That This Former Trump Critic Is the Favorite in His Veepstakes

(AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File)

House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) may have once criticized Donald Trump for “insulting” women, his “offensive comments,” and his proposed Muslim ban, but she’s now the frontrunner to be his running mate in 2024.

According to a story from NBC News, Trump values Stefanik for the loyalty she’s shown him since she leveled those critiques of him as a candidate, as well as for her political acumen.

From the report:

During a candlelit dinner with Mar-a-Lago members in late December, former President Donald Trump walked around the table as the conversation turned to one of the biggest decisions he’d have to make should he become the Republican nominee: Whom should he pick to be his running mate?

That’s when Rep. Elise Stefanik, the hard-charging upstate New York Republican, came up, according to a person at the dinner table. Attendees around Trump raved about her viral moment just weeks before, when she grilled three university presidents at a congressional hearing about antisemitism on campus.

At the thought of Stefanik as a possible choice for vice president, Trump nodded approvingly.

“She’s a killer,” Trump said, according to the person at the event.

Ever since then, Trump and a growing group of allies have started to look more closely at Stefanik as a running mate, according to eight people familiar with the matter, including people in Trump’s orbit, Stefanik fundraising bundlers and former Trump administration officials.

Stefanik secured her spot on the Republican leadership in the House in 2021 after her predecessor, former congresswoman Liz Cheney, was deposed over her criticism of Trump’s actions in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.

By contrast, Stefanik has stood by her refusal to certify the results in 2020 and preemptively indicated that she would support Trump if he denies the results of the upcoming election this year.

Back in 2015, Stefanik condemned Trump for his “insulting” treatment of Megyn Kelly after she moderated the first Republican primary debate of the cycle, and submitted that Trump’s comments “hurt” the party’s ability to appeal to women. She later characterized Trump’s misogynistic remarks on the infamous Access Hollywood tape as “inappropriate, offensive,” and “just wrong.”

She also expressed opposition to Trump’s signature policy promise — building a wall along the United States’ southern border with Mexico — and declared “I don’t think that’s who we are” after Trump called for a ban on Muslim immigration into the country.

In another interview in which she was critical of Trump prior to his election, Stefanik called herself “an independent voice.”

“That has not changed,” she asserted.