Upstate New York Rep. Elise Stefanik's bid to become the House GOP's new conference chair was thrown into jeopardy Thursday as one of her rock-ribbed conservative colleagues from Texas announced he will challenge her for the coveted No. 3 post.
Lone Star State Rep. Chip Roy, a member of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, plans to present the challenge when House Republicans convene Friday to vote on who should replace Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney as the party's No. 3, a spokesman for his office confirmed to the Daily News.
The caucus stripped Cheney of her leadership credentials on Wednesday in retaliation for her rebukes of former President Donald Trump's false claim that the 2020 election was rigged against him.
© Kevin DietschRep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) (Kevin Dietsch/)
Stefanik, whose district spans from the outer suburbs of Albany to the Canadian border, has the support of Trump, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other GOP brass to become the next conference chair.
But Roy and a handful of his conservative colleagues say Stefanik's the wrong Republican for the job because of her relatively moderate voting record, including her opposition to Trump's 2017 tax cuts.
On his way into a closed-door caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday night, Roy said McCarthy was trying to "rush the process" by rubber-stamping Stefanik's candidacy.
"(We need) enough time for people to, you know, decide if they want to run and get into the mix and so forth, but if we're gonna have the vote tomorrow, then I'm running," he told reporters.
© Provided by New York Daily NewsRep. Chip Roy (R-Texas)
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) (Win McNamee/)
Despite her centrist voting record, Stefanik has transformed herself politically in the past two years to become one of Trump's staunchest defenders on Capitol Hill - the biggest reason for why she has his endorsement for the No. 3 spot.
Since 2020, she has also amplified Trump's false claims about the election and was among dozens of Republicans who voted to invalidate President Biden's victory on Jan. 6 despite a total lack of evidence of election fraud.
Roy, by contrast, voted to uphold Biden's victory, angering Trump, who to this day continues to falsely insist that his election defeat was the result of Democratic cheating.
Trump, signaling he values personal loyalty over any policy priorities, took aim at Roy after he made clear he's going to challenge Stefanik.
"Can't imagine Republican House Members would go with Chip Roy-he has not done a great job, and will probably be successfully primaried in his own district. I support Elise, by far, over Chip!" the former president said in an emailed statement.
Despite Roy's late entry, Stefanik will all but certainly win Friday's election, as most GOP members are likely to side with Trump and McCarthy. The election will take place behind closed doors.