Stefanik Drops out of Governor’s Race and will not run for Reelection in Congress.

Less than 50 days into her campaign to secure New York’s top office, Republican Congresswoman Elise Stafanik has called it quits. 

Stefanik announced that she has suspended her campaign for governor of New York and that she would not be seeking reelection to Congress. 

The announcement came Dec. 19 on both social media and in a statement sent to members of the media. Stefanik cited both the need to spend time with her four-year-old son and the strain of competing in a primary election as the reasons for the suspension of her campaign. 

While Stefanik was widely seen as the Republican’s top choice for governor, receiving the endorsement of many New York politicians, including Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh, State Senator James Tedisco and New York Republican Party Chair Ed Cox, she wasn’t running unopposed for the party’s nomination. 

On Dec. 8, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced that he would also be seeking the Republican nod, triggering a potential primary challenge for the longtime Town of Saratoga based Congresswoman. Despite believing that she would beat Blakeman in a primary, Stefanik cited this as one of the reasons she dropped out. 

“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,” Stefanik said in her statement. 

Shortly after Stefanik’s announcement, President Donald Trump — who hadn’t endorsed a candidate to this point — posted on social media endorsing Blakeman for New York’s Governor. The same was true for Cox who also threw his support for Blakeman. 

“Bruce Blakeman has my endorsement, and I urge our State Committee and party leaders to join me,” Cox said in a statement. 

As for what comes next for the 21st congressional district, so far 11 candidates have filed to run for the vacant seat, according to records from the Federal Election Commission. On the Democratic side, dairy farmer Blake Gendebien leads in terms of fundraising with $3,669,237.32 raised as of September. On the Republican side, Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino leads with $2,603,478.61 raised, the majority coming from loans he made to his campaign.