Rep. Elise Stefanik Now a Top Contender for VP – Trump Reportedly Called Her ‘A Killer’

Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York is reportedly on the short list of possible contenders to be Trump’s running mate.

Trump himself reportedly referred to Stefanik as ‘a killer’ during a recent dinner at Mar-a-Lago.

Stefanik was already a rising star in the GOP, but her bold performance during the congressional hearings about anti-Semitism on elite college campuses in December made her a national figure overnight.

NBC News reports:

During a candlelit dinner with Mar-a-Lago members in late December, former President Donald Trump walked around the table as the conversation turned to one of the biggest decisions he’d have to make should he become the Republican nominee: Whom should he pick to be his running mate?

That’s when Rep. Elise Stefanik, the hard-charging upstate New York Republican, came up, according to a person at the dinner table. Attendees around Trump raved about her viral moment just weeks before, when she grilled three university presidents at a congressional hearing about antisemitism on campus.

At the thought of Stefanik as a possible choice for vice president, Trump nodded approvingly.

“She’s a killer,” Trump said, according to the person at the event.

Ever since then, Trump and a growing group of allies have started to look more closely at Stefanik as a running mate, according to eight people familiar with the matter, including people in Trump’s orbit, Stefanik fundraising bundlers and former Trump administration officials.

At the time, the 39-year-old congresswoman was at the crest of a wave of national publicity after taking on the top leaders of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their answers to the question, “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate [your college’s] rules on bullying and harassment?” eventually resulted in two of them resigning and brought a firestorm of criticism on the schools…

“Stefanik is at the top,” said Steve Bannon, who was Trump’s chief strategist in the White House and the architect of his 2016 campaign strategy.

Stefanik has been a solid surrogate for Trump.

President Donald Trump’s support among national Republican primary voters is at its HIGHEST LEVEL yet.

The primary is OVER.

Let’s unite behind Trump and DEFEAT Joe Biden! #SaveAmerica https://t.co/mtfIpejYsI

— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) January 18, 2024

She would certainly be a more attractive candidate for conservatives than Nikki Haley.