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Republican U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik from upstate New York, who has been floated as Donald Trump’s running mate, said Thursday that she would not vote to certify Jan. 6 if she were in Vice President Mike Pence’s shoes. He said it would be fine.
“I don’t think that was the right approach,” Stefanik told CNN’s Caitlan Collin. “I think it’s very important that we continue to defend the Constitution and continue to hold legal and safe elections, which we did not have in 2020.”
The 39-year-old congressman has become well-known on the right wing of the Republican Party, in part because of his vocal support for Trump, his rejection of the 2020 election results and his anti-Semitism on college campuses. This was a harsh criticism of leaders at top universities. Stefanik and fellow provocateur Trump supporter Rep. Matt Gaetz introduced a resolution Tuesday that would declare Trump “not engaged in any insurrection or insurrection against the United States.”
“I would be honored to serve in any future Trump administration in any capacity, but I will ensure that we support him and put him in the strongest position to win this November,” he told reporters. “I’m focused on making sure there are certain things.” A rally was held in New Hampshire last month.
Her recent interview underscores the persistence of the false Republican claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent, which remains widely believed among many Republican voters. In a January USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll, 52% of Trump supporters said they had no confidence that the 2024 election would be accurately counted and reported. By contrast, 81% of Biden supporters said they were “very confident” in the outcome of this year’s election.
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Stefanik was considered a moderate when he was first elected in 2015, but in recent years he has solidified his position as a supporter of Trump, joining the former president’s impeachment defense team in 2021 and helping Trump re-elect in 2020. He served as New York co-chair of the campaign.
Stefanik, a Harvard graduate and native of upstate New York, began his political career as a policy director in former President George W. Bush’s White House.
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