Elise Stefanik, Republican Who Dominated House Antisemitism Hearings, to Run for New York Governor

Rep. Elise Stefanik speaks at the ADL’s Never Is Now summit at Javits Center on March 03, 2025 in New York City. (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Anti-Defamation League)

New York Rep. Elise Stefanik announced a run for governor Nov. 7, as the Republican seeks to leverage her elevated profile as a vocal supporter of the Jewish community to a role in higher office, JTA reported.

She aims to challenge the Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul, who angered many Jews in New York with her endorsement of New York City’s mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, despite his track record of Israel criticism.

In an announcement video for Stefanik’s gubernatorial run, a narrator notes that she “fought woke insanity in our schools,” as a headline referring to her campus antisemitism hearings fills the screen.

Stefanik, who is not Jewish, has been one of the loudest voices on Capitol Hill condemning antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and war in Gaza.

Her relentless questioning of university presidents about the campus climate for Jews was credited with leading to the resignations of the top officials at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and other schools.

Many invitations to address Jewish groups followed, including the Anti-Defamation League and Yeshiva University, which awarded her the Modern Orthodox school’s highest honor over the objections of many faculty.

Her newfound allyships came despite Stefanik’s past platforming of the antisemitic “Great Replacement” theory, and other troublesome aspects of her history that confounded liberal Jews.

Stefanik, who seeks to become the first Republican since George Pataki to move into the governor’s mansion in Albany, seems likely to make antisemitism a main flank of her campaign.

Her video attacks Hochul for the governor’s Mamdani endorsement, saying Hochul “cozied up to a defund-the-police, tax hiking, antisemitic Communist.”

Hochul is facing a primary challenge from her top lieutenant, who had endorsed Mamdani much earlier in the election cycle and who is married to a Jewish filmmaker.