Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., plans to announce her bid for governor of New York on Friday, sources told Politico.
Her rollout will include a campaign video and a statewide tour.
Stefanik, one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies in Congress, has been securing endorsements from elected officials and Republican leaders ahead of the launch.
She has been an outspoken critic of Gov. Kathy Hochul, calling the Democrat “the worst governor in America.”
First elected in 2014, Stefanik represents New York’s North Country and was once expected to leave Congress to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
But her nomination was pulled due to Republicans’ razor-thin House majority.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who was just reelected, is also considering a run for governor.
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., had pondered a run but opted instead to seek reelection in his battleground district.
If Stefanik formally enters the race, she will face long odds — Republicans have not won statewide office in New York since 2002. The party has lost 30 consecutive statewide elections.
Stefanik’s campaign is expected to tie Hochul to democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, who won this week’s New York City mayoral race.
Hochul endorsed his campaign after his primary victory, drawing the scorn of conservatives.
“Under Kathy Hochul’s weak catastrophic leadership, New York City has now fallen to a pro-Hamas, Defund the Police, Tax Hiking, Antisemite Jihadist Communist,” Stefanik said in a statement after Mamdani’s victory.
“And instead of standing up for hardworking New York families, Kathy Hochul proved once again that she is truly the Worst Governor in America with her desperate endorsement of Commie Mamdani.”
Hochul’s campaign responded with a statement tying Stefanik to Trump, who lost New York by double digits in all three of his runs for president.
“Elise Stefanik is a rubber stamp in Washington for Trump’s deeply unpopular agenda that is raising costs, gutting health care, and defunding New York schools, hospitals, and police,” said New York Democratic Committee spokesperson Addison Dick.
“Voters in New York and across the country rejected Trump and his enablers earlier this week, and Stefanik will face the same fate when she launches her campaign to put Trump ahead of New Yorkers.”
Hochul already faces a primary challenge from her lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado.
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