{"id":2062,"date":"2026-07-30T19:34:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T19:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/?p=2062"},"modified":"2026-07-30T19:34:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T19:34:05","slug":"reason-behind-stefaniks-decision-to-leave-congress-end-governor-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/?p=2062","title":{"rendered":"Reason Behind Stefanik\u2019s Decision to Leave Congress, End Governor Bid"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik ended her campaign for New York governor and will also leave her seat in Congress\u2014setting up a key battle in New York in November\u2019s midterms.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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The decision was influenced in part by President Donald Trump\u2019s refusal to endorse her candidacy, according to a GOP source familiar with the matter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe biggest piece of this puzzle was Donald Trump and the fact that he passed three times on endorsing her candidacy,\u201d the source said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The source said Trump declined to endorse Stefanik even during a recent Oval Office meeting attended by members of the \u201cMiracle on Ice\u201d team.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The source said Stefanik believed Trump\u2019s lack of support played the largest role in her decision.<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the source, Stefanik entered the race thinking she had a strong chance to challenge Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That calculation changed after Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Trump ally, entered the Republican primary.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The source said Blakeman\u2019s entry made it clear Stefanik would face a contested primary.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The source said Trump\u2019s neutrality, combined with the prospect of a prolonged primary, factored heavily into Stefanik\u2019s decision.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you start to add these things up, it does not seem that you\u2019re going to have the wind to your back in this cycle,\u201d the source said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The source said Stefanik\u2019s decision to leave Congress was also driven by a sense that it was time to move on.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI am truly humbled and grateful for the historic and overwhelming support from Republicans, Conservatives, Independents, and Democrats all across the state,\u201d Stefanik said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stefanik has been one of Trump\u2019s most loyal allies in Congress and defended him during both impeachment proceedings.<\/strong><\/p>\n

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) appeared on Fox & Friends, where he took the opportunity to discuss significant issues affecting Americans as the country approaches the midterm elections.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Johnson expressed that he is \u201cvery confident\u201d President Donald Trump will soon announce a peace deal with Iran.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cThis will allow 60 days to get the details done, and the number-one condition has been that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,\u201d Johnson said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll take care of the nuclear dust. We\u2019ll get the Strait of Hormuz reopened, which will be great for gas prices here and stability around the world,\u201d he continued.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s why all the regional allies there and all the regional countries are following U.S. leadership under President Trump.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s talk politics here,\u201d interjected co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does this mean for you and the midterms? Because I know this consumes your thoughts a lot,\u201d she said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it\u2019s a big thing,\u201d Johnson began.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we\u2019ve done a lot of work: The Big Beautiful Bill, the working families tax cut \u2014 all of the legislation has been geared towards the cost of living, affordability, bringing the cost of living down,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe put in all those conditions in the economy to let it take off like a rocket, and we were doing that at the beginning of the first quarter, and then the Iran skirmish began,\u201d said the Speaker.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSo, when this settles down, gas prices come back down to earth, that means your grocery prices come down again because of transport costs and all the rest,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a big factor. The kitchen table issues are gonna decide the midterms.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCan those things come down in time to help you out in the midterms?\u201d Campos-Duffy then asked.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we got plenty of runway, we have better candidates, we have a fundraising advantage,\u201d Johnson said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re super excited about the midterms. I\u2019m absolutely convinced that we\u2019re gonna grow the majority and get this done and make history,\u201d he added.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik ended her campaign for New York governor and will also leave her seat in Congress\u2014setting up a key battle in New York in November\u2019s midterms. The … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2062"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2064,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062\/revisions\/2064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}