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Stefanik Becomes Anti-Impeachment Star, Outraises Dem Opponent by More Than 50%

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Picture this headline being written about a Democrat: “GOP woman gets outsized role at impeachment hearing.”

That’s not from, say, Vox or Daily Kos. It’s from The Associated Press.

And it’s not just about any random woman.

If you’d have watched the November hearing to which it referred, you’d have realized you were watching the arrival of Rep. Elise Stefanik, a 35-year-old Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, as a major force in Washington.

Stefanik asked pointed questions of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch —  the star witness for the Democrats that day, given that she’d been dismissed by the president — and consistently protested being interrupted by committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff’s gavel.

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“We know clearly you’re going to interrupt us throughout this hearing,” Stefanik said.

That may not have stopped Schiff, but it clearly gave Stefanik a national profile.

That national profile only increased in the coming days thanks to America’s favorite desperate househusband, George Conway:

Do you think Stefanik is a rising star in the GOP?

According to a curiously married man whose only wider cultural fame has come from attempting to humiliate his wife, Stefanik “is lying trash” and you should donate to her opponent, Tedra Cobb.

Barbra Streisand and the effect named after her probably should have alerted Conway to what happened next: According to the Washington Examiner, Stefanik out-raised Cobb by more than 50 percent.

Stefanik raised $3.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, meaning she now has $3.4 million cash on hand.

Those are rookie numbers for presidential candidates, but that’s pretty big stuff for a House race, particularly when her opponent got George Conway to sic the flying monkeys of the coastal ActBlue battalion on her.

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Cobb, by the way, only raised about $2 million despite the ups from Conway. According to WWNY-TV, she only has $2.2 million cash on hand.

“Stefanik’s fundraising haul is the largest on record for any candidate in this congressional seat,” a statement from the Stefanik campaign read.

“Failed 2018 candidate and current 2020 Democrat Tedra Cobb starts off the on-year with a serious financial disadvantage to Stefanik’s war chest. In 2018, Stefanik beat Taxin’ Tedra Cobb by a larger margin than any Republican Congressional candidate in the entire Northeast.”

“I am overwhelmed by this historic level of support from my constituents and donors across the country for my reelection in 2020,” Stefanik said in the statement.

“Every day of the week, I choose the North Country and America over the Far-Left Hollywood liberals like Rosie O’Donnell and Chelsea Handler who are funding my opponent.

“This record-breaking support is indicative of the countless bipartisan results I’ve delivered for the hardworking families in my district. Our campaign looks forward to running against failed candidate Taxin’ Tedra Cobb, the Toast of Tinseltown.”

That’s some impressive alliteration. What’s even more impressive are the numbers.

No, this wasn’t a campaign driven by big money. According to Stefanik’s statement, the average donation was $50.

No, this wasn’t a case where old donors decided to double down on Stefanik. There were almost 50,000 first-time donors to the campaign.

Yes, this was a huge bump. Stefanik had only raised $450,000 from July to September.

George Conway, for whatever reason, isn’t commenting on this one.

Stefanik, meanwhile, has stayed active in the impeachment arena even after the vote got taken in the House, telling Fox News on Wednesday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should stop trying to interfere with the Senate’s handling of the impeachment trial.

“The impeachment dam is breaking,” Stefanik told Sean Hannity, referring to several Democratic senators who were urging the speaker to turn over the articles of impeachment to the upper chamber regardless of whether Pelosi gets the trial that the Democrats want.

“We need to continue to keep up the pressure,” Stefanik said, adding: “She has no authority over the Senate.”

The thing is, people are listening to Stefanik now. She’s become one of the point people for the Republican Party on impeachment — and one of its most effective ones, at that.

That’s quite a shift for some random “GOP woman.”

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal for four years.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal for four years. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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