Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., speaks before President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, in New York. (AP photo — Evan Vucci)

After months of waiting in limbo, North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination to become the United Nations ambassador has been pulled by the White House as her vote in the slightly Republican-majority House is deemed too important by President Donald Trump.

Rumors of Trump pulling Stefanik’s nomination began circulating on Thursday with anonymous sources telling CBS News about the plans. By 2 p.m., that plan was official.

At 2:12 p.m., Trump confirmed the news with a post on Truth Social.

“It is essential that we maintain EVERY Republican Seat in Congress,” he wrote. “With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat.”

Republicans hold a slight 218-213 majority in the House, meaning they can’t lose many votes.

Trump said he asked Stefanik to remain in the House and abandon the Cabinet nomination, saying she is one of his biggest allies and “vital” to his America First agenda.

“There are others that can do a good job at the United Nations,” Trump wrote. “Therefore, Elise will stay in Congress.”

The Enterprise reached out to Stefanik for reaction, but did not receive a response by press time for this article. It appears the withdrawing of her nomination came as a surprise. On Wednesday, she had posted a photo from the White House with Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, calling them her “Cabinet colleagues.”

Stefanik was anticipating her nomination to the global stage to be confirmed, holding a farewell tour in early February with several stops around the district. She was already attending Cabinet meetings and sitting with the Cabinet at Trump’s presentation to joint session of Congress between casting votes in Congress as she filled both roles.

Trump had not yet announced a replacement for the U.N. ambassador spot as of press time Thursday.

Stefanik would have been the last Trump Cabinet nominee to get a confirmation vote, despite being the first nominee announced after his win in November. She had just won reelection with around 60% of the vote over challenging Democrat Paula Collins. Stefanik has represented NY-21 for decade now.

To read about the saga of the nomination and now-cancelled special election up to this point, go to tinyurl.com/mrxtfeea.

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Calling off the race

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Stefanik’s anticipated nomination to the ambassador seat would have left a gap in NY-21’s congressional seat and triggered a special election to fill the position.

Months of political planning, fundraising, speculation, jockeying and anticipation in the North Country political sphere is down the drain, as there will be no special election after all.

The pages of North Country newspapers have been filled with ink about the expected special election — how a special election works, the dozens of people vying for nominations, the political in-fighting and whispers about who was leadng.

Candidates and candidate hopefuls were already raising money, meeting voters, making promises and sparring in the media — even before the election was officially announced.

The 15 Democratic county party chairs who were tasked with selecting a candidate for the special election made their decision in February when they unanimously chose Lisbon-based dairy farmer Blake Gendebien as their presumptive candidate, deciding to not wait for the election to become official before making their decision.

Albany Democrats were considering trying to delay the election, which would have left NY-21 without a representative in Congress for months.

In any case, NY-21 would have been without a representative for around three months between Stefanik’s resignation and the special election.

None of that matters now.

Well, not entirely. The assumption that Stefanik would become the ambassador and resign from her seat sparked a lot of political movement in NY-21, and drew a lot of attention to the large, rural district.

Several of the candidates already voiced their intentions to run in the 2026 election. Republicans and Democrats got media exposure, support and donations.

Gendebien’s campaign fundraising account, where he has accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars — nearly $2 million according to his campaign, but unverifiable through current data — is actually for the 2026 mid-term elections.

He told the Enterprise in February he planned to run in the mid-terms anyway and, if the special election fundraising category was created, he’d shift his donations over there.

Anthony Constantino, who was buying television ads and self-funding his campaign with $2.6 million from selling Tesla stock, was mulling a third-party run if he didn’t get the Republican Party’s nod. He previously said he planned to run in 2026. Republican Otto Miller, who wanted to run his whole life, said he planned to run in 2026.

Democrat Paula Collins, who lost her bid against Stefanik in November’s election also said she plans to run again in 2026. Democrat Steve Holden, who lost his primary bid against Collins last year, also planned to run in 2026. Brian Rouleau, who lost his The Working Families Party primary bid against Collins, said he planned to run in 2026.

Of course, all these plans were made when candidates believed someone other than Stefanik would be representing the district in Congress.

Warren County Democratic Chair Lynne Boecher, who was leading her party’s 15 county chairs, said Gendebien was a “formidable candidate” who she believes was focusing on the needs. She called him a “front-runner” for the party in 2026, adding that she hopes for others to run, too. After all, in 2026, there will be a primary.

That Trump rescinded his nomination of Stefanik in a district lead by Republicans by 21 percentage points because he didn’t want to take the chance of a Democrat winning the seat tells her he was scared.

“We challenged him and they know that that mandate is not as solid,” Boecher said. “We shook him. … I’m confident we would have won.”

The Enterprise reached out to Warren County Republican Chair Tim McNulty, who was leading his party’s special election search, but did not receive a response by press time for this article.

Trump voiced confidence in Stefanik in the 2026 mid-term elections.

“The people love Elise and, with her, we have nothing to worry about come Election Day,” he wrote.

State Sen. Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, had been a front-runner for the Republican party as they prepared for the expected special election — making the shortlist of potential candidates. Earlier this week, the state Conservative Party said he was their preferred candidate.

“Congresswoman Elise Stefanik is a true, strong leader and would have been a fantastic UN Ambassador,” Stec said in a statement on Thursday. “The withdrawal of her nomination is extraordinarily disappointing news for her and as her friend, I empathize greatly. I’m proud to support Elise Stefanik in all her endeavors and will continue partnering with her to make our region, state and nation safer, stronger, more secure and more economically prosperous.”

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What’s the hold-up?

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The Senate vote on Stefanik’s nomination was expected to come on April 2, the day after two Florida special elections to replace Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz. Both districts are heavily Republican, but Democrats have been fundraising a lot in these elections, too. The Hill reported on Wednesday that Republican strategists, though still confident they would keep Waltz’s seat red, were warning their projections were showing it could be “much closer than many people expected.”

The GOP has a slightly larger majority in the House now than at the start of the month, after the deaths of two Democratic representatives at ages 70 and 77.

The vote on Stefanik’s appointment was not expected to be controversial. Some Democratic senators, like John Fetterman, voiced support for her appointment. Other Democrats opposed her taking on the role, particularly because of her belief that Israel has a biblical right to the West Bank in Gaza.

As ambassador, Stefanik had planned to put “America first,” to defend Israel from the “rot” of antisemitism she sees in the U.N. and to combat China in America’s global power struggle with the nation. She planned to be an advocate for the United States in an organization she believes often works against U.S. values — to hold the U.N. accountable to America’s values, keep China from gaining influence in the international body, protect Israel from accusations of human rights violations by the U.N., use America’s massive spending on the organization as leverage to guide it, reevaluate all spending on the organization, make cuts and show taxpayers what is being spent is providing some sort of return.

To read more about Stefanik’s plans as ambassador, go to tinyurl.com/mw284389 and tinyurl.com/uxx3wy25.

She testified before the Foreign Relations Committee in January and gathered bipartisan votes from the 22-member committee to advance her nomination to a vote by the full Senate.

At the time, committee chairman, Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said that filling the U.N. ambassador role is an “urgent national security priority,” and he hoped to see Stefanik’s nomination pass the Senate “quickly.”

But the vote was being delayed by Speaker Johnson because he wanted to keep her in the House as long as possible.

In late February, she was an important vote on a budget resolution which sets up the agenda for federal spending in the future. This resolution, which includes budget guidelines lasting through 2034, was narrowly approved 217-215, with one Republican voting against it and one Democrat absent. It includes large-scale cuts to federal spending and to taxes.

The resolution sets the administration up to extend its 2017 tax cuts, authorizing $4.5 trillion in cuts over the next decade, which would reduce taxes for a majority of Americans, with wealthy taxpayers reaping a large portion of the benefit.

The resolution includes cutting Energy and Commerce Committee spending by $880 billion, which will potentially result in significant Medicaid cuts. It also includes an additional $300 billion border and military spending — which currently total more than $1 trillion, or almost 15% of the total budget. The resolution calls for an additional $4 trillion to be added to the U.S. debt limit.

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Back to business as usual

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Trump said Stefanik will rejoin the House leadership team and that House Majority Speaker Mike Johnson was “thrilled” about the news. It is unclear what position she would hold on that leadership team. Her previous position as the number-three House Republican Conference Chair is now filled by Michigan Rep. Lisa McClain.

Trump said Stefanik will continue his agenda — “Historic Tax Cuts, GREAT Jobs, Record Economic Growth, a Secure Border, Energy Dominance, Peace Through Strength.”

“I look forward to the day when Elise is able to join my Administration in the future,” Trump wrote. “She is absolutely FANTASTIC. Thank you Elise!”