MAGA women are fleeing D.C. in droves.
New York congresswoman and MAGA darling Elise Stefanik shocked the political world on Friday when she announced that she’s quitting politics. Less than 30 minutes earlier, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis had done the same thing.
Stefanik’s announcement is easily the more surprising of the two. The 41-year-old congresswoman was a rising star in MAGA circles and was seen as a lock to win June 2026’s GOP primary in New York’s gubernatorial race.
“While spending precious time with my family this Christmas season, I have made the decision to suspend my campaign for Governor and will not seek re-election to Congress,” she wrote in a lengthy X post.
Stefanik indicated she was stepping out of politics to spend more time with her 4-year-old son, Sam.
“While many know me as Congresswoman, my most important title is Mom,” she said. “I believe that being a parent is life’s greatest gift and greatest responsibility. I have thought deeply about this and I know that as a mother, I will feel profound regret if I don’t further focus on my young son’s safety, growth, and happiness—particularly at his tender age.”
Stefanik has represented New York’s 21st district, which covers the state’s heavily Republican upstate area, since 2015.
Though she initially was elected as a moderate Republican, she swung hard to the right during her time in Congress and became one of Trump’s most ardent supporters.
She was endorsed by Trump in 2021 to replace Liz Cheney as House Republican Conference Chair. She held the position until January 2025, when Trump nominated her to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. In March, Trump withdrew his nomination, saying that he needed her in the House of Representatives, where Republicans held a slim majority.
In November, Stefanik announced that she would run for governor of New York, bidding to unseat incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul. According to a December Siena poll, she held a massive lead over the other Republican in the race, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, but trailed Hochul by 19 points in a potential head-to-head.
Stefanik’s announcement comes three days after the release of that poll.
Trump, 79, mourned the loss of one of his champions on Truth Social.
“Elise is a tremendous talent, regardless of what she does. She will have GREAT success, and I am with her all the way!” wrote the president.
In contrast, Lummis’ retirement is hardly as stunning as Stefanik’s—nor did it earn a Truth Social sendoff from the president.
Lummis, 71, said in her announcement post that she decided not to seek re-election because she felt she did not have “six more years” in her. She will have served one term in the Senate when her seat goes up for election in 2026. Before her time as Senator, she served from 2009 to 2017 in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Once a free speech absolutist, Lummis changed her tune after the death of Charlie Kirk and the subsequent yanking of Jimmy Kimmel off the air for his comment that MAGA was desperate to paint Kirk’s assassin, Tyler Robinson, as non-MAGA.
Lummis didn’t even have a half hour in the spotlight before Stefanik upstaged her.
Stefanik and Lummis are two more Republicans to drop out of Congress after the shocking resignation of longtime MAGA loyalist-turned-foe Marjorie Taylor Greene. In the weeks following Greene’s announcement, an anonymous senior GOP lawmaker warned that more surprising departures would follow.
“More explosive early resignations are coming,” said the lawmaker in November. “It’s a tinder box. Morale has never been lower. Mike Johnson will be stripped of his gavel, and they will lose the majority before this term is out.”
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