House GOP Elects Rep. Elise Stefanik As Committee Chair, Replacing Liz Cheney

House Republicans formally voted to elect Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York) as GOP House Conference Chair, officially ousting Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) from her long-held position. While the vote to remove Cheney was a closed-door voice vote, the vote to elect Stefanik was a secret-count ballot vote held in the basement auditorium of the Capitol building.

Following the vote, Stefanik addressed reporters saying, “My focus is on unity, because that’s what the American people, and that’s what our voters, deserve.” She then thanked former President Donald Trump, who endorsed her bid. When asked if she believed Trump is the head of Republican party, Stefanik said, “I believe that voters determine the leader of the Republican Party, and President Trump is the leader that they look to. I support President Trump, voters support President Trump; he is an important voice in our Republican Party.”

Before the vote, Cheney became increasingly outspoken against the GOP, recently penning an op-ed in the Washington Post saying that the party is at a turning point.

“Trump is seeking to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy work – confidence in the result of elections and the rule of law. No other American president has ever done this,” Cheney wrote in the Washington Post. “The Republican Party is at a turning point, and Republicans must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution.”