Elise Stefanik

Elise Marie Stefanik (born July 2, 1984) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for NY's 21st congressional district.

As chair of the House Republican Conference since 2021, she is the fourth-ranking House Republican.

Stefanik's district covers most of the North Country and the Adirondack Mountains, some of the outer suburbs of Utica and the Capital District in New York.

Stefanik was born in Albany, New York, on July 2, 1984, to Melanie and Kenneth Stefanik.

Her father is of Polish ancestry, and her mother is of Italian ancestry.

Her parents own Premium Plywood Products, a wholesale plywood distributor based in Guilderland Center.

In October 1998, when she was 14, Stefanik was featured in a Times Union profile about U.S. Senator Al D'Amato.

In the article she is quoted saying, "I support the Republican view, especially his".

Stefanik worked in Washington for six years before entering politics.

According to Stefanik, she first considered a career in public service and policy in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

She was elected vice president of the Harvard Institute of Politics in 2004.

At Harvard, she received an honorable mention for the Women's Leadership Award, an endowed student award for leadership and contributing toward the advancement of women.

After graduating from Harvard, she joined the George W. Bush administration, as a staff member for the U.S. Domestic Policy Council.

Stefanik later worked in the office of Joshua Bolten, the White House Chief of Staff.

Stefanik graduated from the Albany Academy for Girls and enrolled at Harvard College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government in 2006.

In 2009, she founded the blog American Maggie, a platform to promote the views of "conservative and Republican women", named after British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

The district had been in Republican hands for 100 years, before Democrat Bill Owens was elected to represent it in a 2009 special election.

Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party nominee in 2009, endorsed Stefanik.

Stefanik helped prepare the Republican platform in 2012, served as director of new media for Tim Pawlenty's presidential exploratory committee and worked at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Foreign Policy Initiative.

She managed Representative Paul Ryan's debate preparation for the 2012 presidential debates.

After Mitt Romney and Ryan lost the 2012 presidential election, she returned to upstate New York and joined her parents' business.

After the 2012 election, Stefanik bought a home in Willsboro, near Plattsburgh.

Her parents had owned a vacation home in Willsboro for many years.

In August 2013, Stefanik declared her candidacy in the 2014 election for the U.S. House of Representatives in ny's 21st congressional district.

In addition to being the first woman to occupy her House seat, Stefanik was 30 when first elected to the House in 2014, making her the youngest woman elected to Congress at the time.

Initially elected as a moderate conservative, Stefanik has moved considerably towards the right, as she aligned herself with the then-President Donald Trump.

By April 2014, she owned a minority interest in a townhouse near Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., valued at $1.3 million.

In January 2014, Owens announced that he would not seek reelection.

Stefanik defeated Matt Doheny in the 2014 Republican primary election, 61% to 39%.

She faced Aaron Woolf, the Democratic Party nominee, and Matt Funiciello, the Green Party nominee, in the November 4 general election.

On August 19, 2017, in Saratoga Springs, New York, Stefanik married Matthew Manda, who works in marketing and communications.

In December 2018, Stefanik and Manda moved to Schuylerville, near Saratoga Springs.

, Manda works as the manager of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association for firearms manufacturers.

Their first child was born in 2021.

Stefanik is a Roman Catholic.

She strongly opposed the first impeachment of Trump in 2019 amid the Trump–Ukraine scandal and backed Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, objecting to Pennsylvania's electoral votes after Trump supporters were involved in the 2021 United States Capitol attack.

As the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack began to investigate, Stefanik claimed that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was "aware of potential security threats to the Capitol and she failed to act."

Stefanik was elected chair of the House Republican Conference in May 2021 after incumbent Liz Cheney was removed due to her opposition to President Trump.

Stefanik gained national attention in December 2023 for her intense questioning of university presidents during a widely televised U.S. congressional hearing on antisemitism.

Some have credited Stefanik with contributing to the resignation of Liz Magill, the president of the University of Pennsylvania.