From left: Rep. Elise Stefanik and husband Matthew Manda.Photo: Elise Stefanik/Twitter
Rep.Elise Stefanikannounced over the weekend that she is pregnant with her first child.
“We are absolutely overjoyed to announce that our small family of 2 will soon be 3!” Stefanik, 36,tweetedalongside a pair of maternity photos with her husband Matthew Manda.
Stefanik is in her fourth congressional term and is the No. 3-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, havingreplacedousted Rep.Liz Cheneylast month.
“Congratulations@EliseStefanik, you and Matt are going to be incredible parents!” tweeted Rep.Madison Cawthorn, another loyalist of former PresidentDonald Trump.
“Congratulations! You will be a wonderful mother@EliseStefanik! Your sweet little one is going to be so proud of you,” added Trump White House Press SecretaryKayleigh McEnany.
“You and Matt will be wonderful parents,” saidNikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador.
Stefanik has previously been described as more politically moderate in her party, having supported Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s 2016 presidential bid over that ofDonald Trumpand splitting with Trump on some major issues.
But her district, a rural swath of norther New York,has become increasingly supportiveof Trump and she has evolved into a leading defender of the former president — often amplifying his lies that the 2020 election was rigged.
She was among the Republicans to vote to invalidate PresidentJoe Biden’s victory in the immediate aftermath of the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. And the Associated Pressreportedthat she raised a whopping $13 million on the heels of her vocal support of Trump, 74, during his second impeachment trial.
Rep. Elise Stefanik.Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Rep. Elise Stefanik.Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty
Her Republican colleagues chose her last month to replace Cheney in House leadership after Cheney continued to criticize Trump’s repeated false claims about his 2020 election loss.
In a letter to her colleagues, Stefanik wrote that she has three goals for the GOP moving forward: to identify a “disciplined, unified message” from the party, offer “a communications posture on offense every single day” and “empower all our members to shine.”
Stefanik will become the 11th member of Congress in U.S. history to give birth while in office later this year.
The other women include nine members of the House andTammy Duckworth, who became the first sitting senatorto give birthin 2018.
source: people.com
