Thursday, October 15, 2026

Italian American Heritage Month: Elise Stefanik

Elise Marie Stefanik proudly represents New York's 21st District and is in her sixth and final term as the most senior elected Republican in New York, having decided not to seek re-election. 

Elise learned, lived, and understands the values of hard work, perseverance, determination, and grit. Her mother is of Italian descent. As the first member of her immediate family to have the opportunity to earn a college degree, Elise graduated with honors from Harvard. 

From 2006 to 2009, Elise served in the West Wing of the White House on President George W. Bush’s Domestic Policy Council Staff and the Chief of Staff’s office where she assisted in overseeing the policy development process on all economic and domestic policy issues.

It is the highest and most humbling honor of Elise’s life to represent Upstate New York and the North Country in Congress. She is proud to work tirelessly every day to bring a new generation of leadership to Washington on behalf of her district’s hardworking families, small businesses, farmers, students, seniors, service members, military families, law enforcement officers, and veterans. She is unapologetic about fighting every day to give her constituents a seat at the absolute highest levels of government.

Elise lives in Schuylerville with her husband Matt and their young son Sam. They are proud to call Upstate New York – the cradle of the American Revolution – home.

She is currently the Chairwoman of House Republican Leadership. At the time of her first election, Elise made history as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She continued this historic rise and went on to serve as the highest-ranking woman in Congress as House Republican Conference Chair, where she was the youngest woman in history to serve in top elected House leadership. Elise has consistently won historic re-election victories, often by the largest margin of any Republican in the Northeast and consistently earning the most votes in the history for any congressional candidate in the North Country.

Hailed as "a star" by President Trump, Elise served on the Intelligence Committee during impeachment hearings and played a leading role as a member of President Trump's Impeachment Defense Team. Elise is widely recognized as one of the most effective questioners in Congressional hearings - most notably when she set off a global reckoning addressing antisemitism in higher education. Her questions to Ivy League university presidents forced multiple resignations and set the record for the most viewed Congressional testimony in history, with billions of views worldwide. Due to this strong moral leadership and her extensive policy record, Chairwoman Stefanik is an internationally recognized leader in combating antisemitism.

In 2024, Elise was featured on Time Magazine's 100 List as one of the 100 most influential leaders in the world. Previously, she was profiled on Time Magazine's Next 100 List. She has been named many times to Washingtonian Magazine's Most Powerful Women in Washington List. Elise was included in Fortune Magazine's 40 Under 40 list for many years and was named among the top most powerful leaders in New York in City and State.  Elise was awarded the Distinguished Civilian Service Award by the United States Army, the highest honorary award granted by the Secretary of the Army. 

Elise also founded and launched the political organization E-PAC to increase the number of Republican women serving in Congress which helped make history electing the highest number of Republican women ever by nearly tripling their representation in the House.As the first member of her immediate family to have the opportunity to graduate from college, Elise earned her B.A. from Harvard. At Harvard, she was selected as an Undergraduate Fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

She is unapologetic about fighting every day to give her constituents a seat at the absolute highest levels of government.

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