Rep. Elise Stefanik delivers a speech for the Republican National Convention on the night of Aug. 26, 2020, remotely from the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. (Screenshot from video)

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, spoke at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night, highlighting her upbringing, NY-21 and Fort Drum, as well as jabbing at Democratic presidential nominee Joseph Biden.

Stefanik delivered her roughly four-minute speech from the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in the capital, which is where most of the convention’s speakers have delivered their remarks.

She opened with a reference to the history of New York’s 21st Congressional District, calling the region “the cradle of the American Revolution” for the Battles of Saratoga during the Revolutionary War, and recalling the “Miracle on Ice,” when the American men’s ice hockey team defeated the Soviet Union 4-3 during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.

She also highlighted Fort Drum, specifically recalling when President Donald Trump visited the base to sign the National Defense Authorization Act in August 2018.

Stefanik tied the history of the region to the American dream, which she said she’s lived.

“I believe in the American dream because I’ve lived it,” she said. “Like millions of Americans, I grew up in a small business family where I learned the values of hard work and determination. I was the first person in my immediate family to graduate from college, ran for Congress to serve upstate New York, and am proudly the first Republican woman elected to Congress in history.”

Stefanik’s parents own Premium Plywood Products, a wholesale plywood distributor in Albany County. After graduating from an all-girls preparatory school in Albany, she went on to Harvard University, where she got her bachelor’s degree in government.

Stefanik turned to the impeachment trial of Trump, saying he’s “fought tirelessly to deliver results for all Americans, despite Democrats’ baseless and illegal impeachment sham and the media’s endless obsession with it.”

The impeachment last December catapulted Stefanik into the national limelight, as she vociferously defended the president. Stefanik garnered attention during the hearings she was involved in as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, where she routinely criticized committee Chairman Adam Schiff D-Calif.

Stefanik garnered the attention of the president for her questioning of former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, earning a tweet from Trump calling her “a new Republican Star.” Since then, Stefanik was named to the president’s impeachment defense team, was appointed the co-chair of his New York campaign and has routinely traveled with the president, most recently to his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

During her speech, Stefanik called the impeachment trial “an attack” on the president and on the voice and votes of the American people. She said the American people were not swayed by “partisan attacks,” and said support for Trump is stronger than ever before.

“Americans from all walks of life are unified in support of our president,” she said. “It’s why more Republican women than ever are running for office this year. We understand that this election is a choice between the far-left Democratic socialist agenda versus protecting and preserving the American dream.”

Stefanik contrasted Trump’s support of small businesses, entrepreneurs and workers with Biden’s, who she said wants to keep small business down.

“Joe Biden wants to keep them locked up in the basement and crush them with $4 trillion in new taxes,” she said.

Stefanik was referencing Biden’s tax plan, which would raise taxes by $4 trillion by increasing tax rates for households making more than $400,000, and by raising business taxes. In this plan, the top 1% of households would pay nearly three-fourths of the additional taxes.

Stefanik finished with a ringing endorsement of Trump, coupled with a resounding rejection of Biden.

“We face a critical choice, Joe Biden’s far-left failed policies of the past 47 years, or President Trump, who will stand up for the American people and the Constitution. I believe in the wisdom and spirit of the American people to elect the only candidate who is capable of protecting the American dream: President Trump. Thank you to the North Country for the opportunity to serve as your voice supporting his reelection.”