MAGA Rep. Elise Stefanik struggled to speak over boos and jeers at an event in her home district Monday, becoming the latest GOP lawmaker to face a hostile reception from constituents.
The New York congresswoman was met by protesters while appearing at a ceremony honoring a late Clinton County clerk in Plattsburgh, a small town near the Canadian border.
Video shows jeers erupting from the crowd as Stefanik, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump and a possible gubernatorial candidate, stepped up to the podium to give her remarks.
Elise Stefanik got booed so loud in her district you couldn’t even hear her speak.That’s what happens when you sell out your constituents to Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/emdfgs7kq1
— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) August 19, 2025
Cries of “You sold us out,” “Shame,” and “Unseal the Epstein files,” along with a steady stream of boos, made it difficult for Stefanik to be heard.
She left the podium after speaking for less than a minute, and was booed again when she returned to speak for a second time.
More than half of the crowd at the ceremony were protesters, according to the local NBC affiliate NBC 5, with many waving signs blasting Stefanik for supporting Trump’s policies and for allegedly shunning meetings with constituents.
Stefanik denounced the protesters for politicizing a ceremony meant to honor longtime clerk John Zurlo, who died at 86 last December.
“It is a disgusting disgrace that this is what the far left does, rather than understanding that his family has been through a tremendous amount. It was about honoring his legacy,” Stefanik told NBC5 after the event.
She later doubled down in an X post, slamming “radical Far Left Democrat agitators who disgracefully attempted to drown out and silence a non-political event.”
But protester Mavis Agnew told the TV station that the ceremony was “the first opportunity we had to let her know we’re unhappy” in months.
“She won’t hold a town hall, she won’t take questions. She’s never in her office,” Agnew said.
Despite her best efforts to avoid constituent backlash, Stefanik joins a growing list of Republicans who have been confronted by voters frustrated with Trump and the GOP’s agenda, including the Department of Government Efficiency’s sweeping cuts and the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
The GOP’s massive spending bill, which Stefanik voted for, balloons the deficit while slashing more than $1.1 trillion from Medicaid, Medicare, and Affordable Care Act plans.
The cuts could disrupt some healthcare services in New York’s rural North Country region, where Plattsburgh is located, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise has reported.
“I don’t think this is about Democrats versus Republicans or anything,” Jesse Murnane, another protester, told NBC5. “We’re all here represented by Stefanik. And with the recent cuts that have just been passed, we’re all going to be affected by rural hospitals. Hudson Headwaters potentially being affected, our only clinics available to patients. That’s important to me.”
Stefanik, who backed Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, was nominated by the president earlier this year to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. However, Trump later withdrew the nomination, citing the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the House.
The 41-year-old congresswoman has been hinting at a possible 2026 run against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and recently announced that she would make a final decision later this year.
The Daily Beast reached out to Stefanik’s office for comment.
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