Stefanik Says She’d Be ‘Honored’ to Be Trump’s Running Mate

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) delivers remarks to nominate Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for speaker of the House as the House of Representatives prepares to vote on a new speaker at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on Oct. 17, 2023. Win McNamee/Getty Images

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said she was open to the possibility of being former President Donald Trump’s running mate.

In an appearance on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Ms. Stefanik was informed about President Trump’s remarks in September last year, when the former president said that he liked “the concept” of having a female running mate. Given the former president’s mindset, the congresswoman was asked if she would consider the position if called upon.

“Well, I, of course, would be honored to serve in any capacity in a Trump administration. I’m proud to be the first member of Congress to endorse his reelection. I’m proud to be a strong supporter of President Trump, and he’s going to win this November,” Ms. Stefanik said.

The New York congresswoman declined to comment when asked about whether she had discussed the possibility with President Trump.

“I’m not going to get into the content of my conversation with President Trump. I talk to him frequently. We’ve been focused on winning,” she said. “There’s so much work to do as the House Republican Conference chair, as the representative for New York’s 21st Congressional District.”

She added: “We need to make sure that President Trump is in the strongest position to win in the general election. That’s what I’ve been focused on, and that’s what I’m going to remain focused on.”

Media speculation about President Trump’s possible female running mates has included Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Trump White House press secretary and current Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.

In December, former White House adviser Steve Bannon predicted that his former boss would pick a female candidate as his vice president. “Kristi Noem, I think, will be very competitive given her understanding of the MAGA movement came out of the Tea Party very close to President Trump,” Mr. Bannon said on the “Sean Spicer Show.”

Later in the same month, Donald Trump Jr. told Newsmax that he opposed the idea of Ms. Haley being his father’s running mate.

“I would go to great lengths to make sure that that doesn’t happen,” Mr. Trump said. “Nikki Haley wants never-ending wars. She’s a puppet of the establishment in Washington, D.C. She’s the new favorite candidate of the billionaire class—no different than academia and Harvard.”

When pressed to clarify her stance, Ms. Stefanik told NBC again that she would be “honored to serve in the next Trump administration.” She added, “But I’m focused on doing my job right now, which is a really important role as the conference chair and as, most importantly, the representative for the people of New York 21.”

In a USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll released on Jan. 4, 14 percent of 438 Trump voters surveyed from Dec. 26 to Dec. 29 picked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as their preferred choice of the former president’s running mate.

Ten percent named biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, 7 percent named Ms. Haley, 2 percent named Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 1 percent named Ms. Noem, and another 1 percent named former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson. Over half of the respondents either didn’t have an opinion about it or refused to answer.

Young Republican voters wanted President Trump to pick either Mr. Carlson or Mr. Ramaswamy as his running mate, according to results from Turning Point Action’s straw poll, obtained exclusively by RealClearPolitics. The poll asked 1,113 attendees at the TPUSA conference in Phoenix from Dec. 17 to Dec. 18.

Just over a third, or 35 percent, of the respondents picked Mr. Carlson, while 25.7 percent picked Mr. Ramaswamy, according to the poll.

President Trump continues to be the frontrunner in FiveThirtyEight’s GOP presidential primary poll average. As of Jan. 7, the average shows the former president with 61.8 percent support, with Mr. DeSantis in second place with 12.1 percent, followed by Ms. Haley with 11.2 percent.