GOP votes to replace Cheney with Stefanik after backing from Trump

House Republicans on Friday elevated Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to replace Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as the party’s conference chair, capping a tumultuous three-week stretch that exposed the deep divisions in a conference beholden to former President Trump.

Stefanik, who was backed by Trump and top House GOP leaders, easily defeated Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who launched a last-minute challenge over concerns Stefanik’s voting record is too liberal. The vote was 134-46.

Three other Republicans, Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), Virginia Foxx (N.C.) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), each received a single vote. Nine lawmakers voted present.

Heading into the vote, Stefanik brushed aside those criticisms, pledging that she’d fight to keep Republicans as one voice heading into the 2022 midterm elections, where they like their odds of flipping control of the House.

“We are unified at making sure that we win the majority and that we focus on the damage that the Biden-Pelosi agenda is doing across America,” Stefanik told reporters Thursday night after making her pitch to GOP colleagues.

The closed-door election was held two days after House Republicans took the unprecedented step of voting to oust Cheney from the No. 3 leadership post for continuing to call out Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen and cast blame on the former president for the Jan. 6 insurrection.