This week’s issue of Time magazine contains a two-page article on Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican who represents northern New York in the U.S. House of Representatives. (Enterprise photo — Peter Crowley)

North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik was profiled in Time magazine this week on her efforts to recruit more Republican women to run for Congress.

As recruitment chair for the National Republican Congressional Committee, Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, is working to counter the outcome of the 2018 midterm election, in which more than 30 Democratic women were newly elected — and only one Republican woman.

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What could have been

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“Representative Elise Stefanik can pinpoint the moment that crystallized the issue for her: It was the week after the midterm elections, and the newly elected members of the House of Representatives lined up for a photo,” the Time story reads. “Representing the Democratic side of the aisle were more than 30 women. On the GOP side were two — Carol Miller of West Virginia and Young Kim of California.

“Stefanik knew what could have been. ‘I recruited over 100 women,’ she says, reflecting on her time as recruitment chair for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). “But looking at the freshmen on the Capitol steps, she saw whom her party was welcoming in 2019: almost all white men.”

And as it turned out, Kim lost after absentee ballots were counted, making Miller the sole GOP winner that election.

“That was a stark, stark wake-up call,” Stefanik told Time.

“The congresswoman stood up at a meeting with her fellow House Republicans shortly after the election,” the article continued. “‘Take a look around,’ she recalls telling them in the basement of the Capitol. ‘This is not reflective of the American public. And you need to do something about it.'”

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Viable candidates

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The story also discusses the political action committee Stefanik organized to help her efforts: “She wasn’t willing to wait. As we sit in her office on Capitol Hill, the topic is E-PAC, the political action committee she officially relaunched in January to focus solely on recruiting women and helping them win.

“Her initial aim was to raise $100,000; as of April 1, according to a spokesperson, she had raised over $285,000.”

Stefanik’s efforts to not only recruit more women but to develop them into viable candidates is also discussed in the story.

“She’s laid out a set of metrics they must meet to receive the PAC’s support, like reaching a fundraising threshold and building a basic campaign infrastructure,” the story says.

“Although Stefanik won’t announce her first slate until the fall, her spokesperson said the PAC has given the maximum allowable contribution to Kim, who is running again, as well as Nicole Malliotakis in New York, Karen Handel in Georgia and Joan Perry in North Carolina. To be a Republican woman seeking a House seat isn’t enough, Stefanik says. She’s looking for ‘women we can help get across the finish line.”

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Feedback

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Stefanik’s camp said national media attention like the Time story is a huge help for her to get out the word about the need for more Republican women candidates.

Stefanik, 34, was first elected in New York’s 21st Congressional District in 2014.

At 29, she was, at the time, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

She was re-elected in 2016 and again in 2018.

Tedra Cobb, the Democrat who lost to Stefanik in the 2018 election, has launched a campaign seeking to unseat the incumbent in 2020. Cobb did not respond to a request for comment on the Time magazine story.