Styrofoam packed peanuts were scattered in empty offices in the Rayburn House Office Building across from Capitol on Monday morning.
New York president Elise Stefanik is back.
This was not a plan.
Stephanik, a self-proclaimed “Ultra Magazine” warrior, whom President Trump nominated as the UN ambassador, was scheduled to depart via a Senate confirmation slip scheduled for early April.
So she put the office in the box. She sent longtime Chief of Staff Patrick Hester to start a new job at the State Department. There he worked for seven days. She was looking forward to completing her district's “farewell tour,” checking out school for her son in New York City, and moving to the $15 million Manhattan Penthouse, which comes with what is considered a rather hard work.
Instead, Stefanik returned to Capitol Hill in the peanuts.
For critics, the president's decision to take Stefanik's nomination is similar to a chalmic appearance for Republican lawmakers who were moderately elected but not aapologetic to the right of the Magazine, and came to personify the opportunistic shape that grasped her party at Trump's age.
Stefanik's light-like appearance seemed to crystallize the limits of loyalty in the Magazine universe in one concise story of attention. Even one of the president's most stubborn defenders, even an effective alliance since his first blunder each trial, ultimately didn't get what she had been promised for a long time.
But for her supporters, her cabinet dream explosion was a gift of disguise, a testament to her temper as someone who willingly plagues personal set-offs for the benefit of the team and willing to set her up for something potentially better. As a result, she has a new level of praise from the president and top GOP donors, and now she is encouraging her to take part in the 2026 New York Governor race.
Stefanik has a long vision on her side.
“Resilience is one of my strengths,” she said in a brief interview. “We bouncing off pretty quickly. The reality is that almost every person who is prominent in American politics has a twist and a turn.”
However, it is her relationship with Johnson that has completely collapsed since her return. Johnson is the dynamic that sets a conflict between two Trump loyalties and House leaders as he tries to pass the president's domestic policy agenda.
Stephanik did little to hide the fact that Johnson felt wrong. On Tuesday, she called him a liar after saying she was “in a conversation” with reporters, her and Rep. Mike Lawler, another New York Republican who ran for the governor about her race.
“This is not true,” she wrote on social media. “I've not had a conversation with the speaker regarding the governor's race.”
This post prompted an immediate call from Johnson, who publicly corrected himself.
“Eliese is one of my close friends,” he told Capitol reporters Tuesday. “We're not specifically talking about her running for the governor. She's coming to visit with me, and that's all good.”
But behind the scenes, the relationship broke down.
After Stefanik's appointment was drawn out, the speaker promised her a position at the leadership table – at the last Congress, she served as the chairman of the conference, No. 4 Republican, and she also publicly said she would return to the Intelligence Election Committee. That requires removing Republicans from the panel to maintain the number of Democrats and Republicans.
Personally, three people familiar with the exchange said Johnson told her he was considering eliminating another Republican, representing Arkansas French Hill or Texas Pat Fallon, to create space for Stefanik.
But Johnson doesn't, or hasn't discussed it with them. He also hasn't solved the issue of how to return Stefanik to the committee yet.
When White House officials called Stefanik to vote for the presidential budget in early April, she expressed her frustration that Johnson had not made any of her previous three-way call to Trump after retracting her appointment.
Under pressure from the White House, Johnson called her and said that many angry members had many members to deal with, according to two people familiar with the exchange.
Stephanik, who once had close friends with Johnson and spent part of the election night in his hometown of Shreveport, was pushed back and said honestly, “I'm the most angry person.”
After that intense conversation, and the moment she was a necessary budget vote, Johnson finally announced her as the new “chairman of the House Republican leader.”
Before the election, former chairman Kevin McCarthy warned her that if Republicans manage to manage to maintain control at the margins, they could face headwinds when leaving the house.
It soon became clear that after they just did it, Republicans of the Poaching House for Cabinet positions would be at risk.
After former Florida representatives Matt Gaetz and Michael Waltz resigned to pursue their position in the Trump administration, Stephanik was stuck in a kind of purgatory.
“If the planned budget resolution is passed this week, Elise Stefanik could move on to his dull recognition of the political reality of his slim majority,” Johnson said in February. “I had 220 Republicans and 215 Democrats, and President Trump began culling the herds.”
Stefanik always knew math problems, people nearby said. However, her senior aides have denounced Johnson for avoiding a direct conversation with her about his concerns about the vote margin. Instead, he quietly said he had tried to delay her hearing and poison the well against her appointment.
Johnson, who publicly said that Stefanik would become a great ambassador, insisted that he did nothing to interfere with her. Johnson's spokesman Taylor Haussy said the timing of Stefanik's confirmation was “a White House and Senate solution issue,” and speakers supported what they had decided.
Still, the Republican Conference is already a largely trustworthy place among its members, and they often assume that their colleagues are trying to stab them in the back. The explosion between Stefanik and Johnson led to wider distrust of the speaker, according to other lawmakers who don't want to talk about a record of the fight between their colleagues.
For now, Stefanik is drawing out campaign donations for what her allies are framing as a selfless decision to become team players. She has $10 million in cash in hand, the aide said.
After Trump officially recruited the nomination at the end of March, former speaker Newt Ginrich reminded her when cabinet candidates burst, it was because their own issues put their chances at risk. In this case, it wasn't really about her, he said.
His career was long, he assures her, and after all, she was only 40 years old.
McCarthy also counsels her to keep things in perspective.
“My first advice is to go back to the horses, go straight to the TV and set the stage as is,” he told her. “The party needs her. She's a very strong voice. No one remembers next week. She's been in leadership longer than the speaker.”
The president has personally and publicly committed to Mr. Stefanik's position in his administration. And she is now free to appeal on television, but she couldn't while her nomination was on hold.
“In many ways, this is more freeing in opening multiple paths to serving New Yorkers that are stronger than ever,” she said in an interview.
Winning the governor's race in New York is a long shot for Republican candidates, but donors and operatives pushing Stephanik to enter see her as an advantage for both sides as she challenges Democratic governor Kathy Hokle. Running in New York would pay full attention to her and she could turn her into the line for something else. Some of her allies point to the case of Lee Zeldin, who lost the New York governor race in 2022 and landed as Trump's EPA administrator.
Not everyone wants her to leave Washington.
“Are you calling for future speakers in the home?” Stephen K. Bannon, a former Trump advisor and influential podcast host, said when asked to talk about Stephanik. “I advise her to keep all options open right now. She's in the perfect position. Trump now thinks she's walking on the water right now. She was a trooper. She's solid.”
“I haven't made a decision yet,” Stefanik said of the governor's race.
Stefanik's longtime adviser, Alex DeGrath, said during his 10 years in Congress, Stefanik has consistently gained independents and over 20% of Democrats.
“She has the largest donor base for Republicans in New York to date,” he said. “Of course, she looks at it strongly.”
