Rep. Elise Stefanik suspends her campaign for Governor of New York, focusing on family.
Rep. Elise Stefanik has been running for governor of New York in a campaign that would ultimately pit her against current governor Kathy Hochul. However, today she announced she was suspending her camapaign.
While spending precious time with my family this Christmas season, I have made the decision to suspend my campaign for Governor and will not seek re-election to Congress. I did not come to this decision lightly for our family.
I am truly humbled and grateful for the historic and…— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) December 19, 2025
While spending precious time with my family this Christmas season, I have made the decision to suspend my campaign for Governor and will not seek re-election to Congress. I did not come to this decision lightly for our family.
I am truly humbled and grateful for the historic and overwhelming support from Republicans, Conservatives, Independents, and Democrats all across the state for our campaign to Save New York.
However, 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.
She’s referring to a protracted primary because Nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman announced last week that he was throwing his hat into the race. President Trump reportedly made a phone call to Blakeman telling him to stay out of the race but that obviously didn’t work. So what Stefanik was facing was mission impossible.
Though the six-term representative believes she would have crushed Blakeman in a primary, “we viewed it as a waste of resources,” she says, pointing to how in 2022 the Republican nominee for governor, Lee Zeldin, had to spend $7 million in a relatively uncompetitive primary that left him at a disadvantage against Governor Kathy Hochul.
