Newest GOP Leader: We’re ‘Unified In Working With’ Trump, Cheney Still Part Of Conference

Newly-elected GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) pitched a big tent message Friday morning, saying both that the GOP conference will be working with Trump into the future and that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) — both vocal Trump critics — were considered part of the conference as well. 

“My job — House Republican Conference Chair — we are focused on putting forth policies and communicating them to the American people to beat Democrats,  and we are going to win the majority in 2022 as one team,” Stefanik told reporters Friday after she was elected to the number three leadership position in the House GOP. 

When asked whether Cheney and Kinzinger still had a place in the party, Stefanik responded: “Liz Cheney is a part of this conference, Adam Kinzinger is a part of this conference. They were elected and sent here by the people in their district, they are part of this Republican conference. We are unified in working with President Trump.”

“My job representing our Republican members, the vast majority of you look forward to working with President Trump,” she added. 

Stefanik, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump before Cheney had been removed from the post, was voted in via a secret ballot vote 134-46, reports Roll Call. 

My statement as the newly elected House GOP Conference Chair. pic.twitter.com/emb6lNxPRm

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) May 14, 2021

Stefanik faced almost no opposition for the position, and only received public competition Thursday evening, when Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), a member of the House Freedom Caucus and a former staffer for Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), said he would run for the post as well. 

Roy, who previously circulated a memo opposing Stefanik over her voting record, encountered near-immediate opposition from Trump, who criticized him in a public statement and said he would “probably be successfully primaried in his own district.”

But after losing the conference chair vote, Roy has now publicly backed Stefanik: 

I extend my sincere congratulations to my friend and colleague, Elise Stefanik. As I said from the beginning, our goal was to provide an alternative with a proven record of standing up not for politicians — but for freedom, the Constitution, and the conservative principles Americans hold dear. I am glad that we did, because it demonstrates a large block of our colleagues across the ideological spectrum agree. I also want to thank the countless conservative organizations and individuals who backed our effort; the amount of support we have received in less than 24 hours has been incredibly humbling.

Now that the conference has made its decision, it’s time for us to move forward with a vision and a plan to fight for the forgotten men and women of this country, their way of life, and the principles — built upon the bedrock of freedom — that have made it great. We have no more time for either beltway theatrics, half-hearted empty promises, or tepid appeasement of people who want to remake America in the image of failed social welfare states.

The future of our republic is at stake. To save it, we’re going to have to do more than talk; we are going to have to fight for it.

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