Rep. Elise Stefanik Drops Out of NY Governor’s Race, Won’t Seek Reelection

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) on Dec. 19 announced that she would end her campaign to become governor of New York in the 2026 general election and would not seek reelection to Congress in the same year, thereby retiring from elected politics.

“As we have seen in past elections, while we would have overwhelmingly won this primary, it is not an effective use of our time or your generous resources to spend the first half of next year in an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary, especially in a challenging state like New York,” wrote Stefanik on social media about her decision.

Democratic Party candidates have held the governor’s office in New York since 2006 and currently have large majorities in both houses of the state legislature.

Stefanik added: “I know that as a mother, I will feel profound regret if I don’t further focus on my young son’s safety, growth, and happiness—particularly at his tender age.” Stefanik gave birth to her son, Samuel Albritton Manda, on Aug. 27, 2021, during her term in Congress.

Stefanik’s decision means that only one candidate, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, is currently in the Republican primary contest. Stefanik was previously the frontrunner in the primary race and had the endorsement of many members of Congress, state legislators, and prominent figures from New York. Blakeman, 70, announced his candidacy on Dec. 9.

The Democratic primary is presently competitive between incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) and incumbent Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado (D-N.Y.), who was nominated and appointed to his position by Hochul in 2022, and ran with her support in that year’s election, but who recently broke with her politically. Hochul still leads most opinion polls in the primary race.

Stefanik, who previously served as the chairwoman of the U.S. House Republican Conference from 2021 to 2025, was widely seen as a rising star in the Republican Party, particularly after her incisive questioning of three university presidents during a congressional hearing on Dec. 8, 2023, regarding anti-Semitism at colleges and universities amid the war between Israel and Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas.

Two of those leaders, Harvard University President Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill, later resigned from their offices.

Stefanik was later nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during his present term, but he later withdrew that nomination on March 27 amid House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) pleas to keep her in the House, due to the GOP’s slim majority there. Democrats in New York had signaled that they would slow down the process of choosing Stefanik’s successor in a special election were she to resign mid-term.

After the withdrawal, Stefanik was appointed to a newly created position of chair of House Republican Leadership. However, she has since become an open critic of Johnson’s leadership.

Stefanik’s congressional seat, amid her gubernatorial campaign, had already attracted primary contestants. The district, New York’s 21st, has a Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI) score of R+10, indicating that it’s likely Republicans will hold the seat in the 2026 election.

Trump commented on Stefanik’s decision in a post on Truth Social.

“Elise Stefanik, a fantastic person and Congresswoman from New York State, has just announced she won’t be running for Governor,” he wrote. “Elise is a tremendous talent, regardless of what she does. She will have GREAT success, and I am with her all the way!”