House Republicans vote for new conference chair: Live updates | CNN Politics (2024)

Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, whose criticism of former President Trump led toher ouster from House Republican leadership,said Friday that her role as a member of Congress obligated her to oppose the widespread lie of fraud in the 2020 election.

“This is duty, and it’s about truth, and we’ve had a collapse of truth in this country,” she told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead” when asked what it was like to be shunned by her fellow House Republicans in defending the Constitution.

“We’ve seen an evolution of, you know, a general situation where conspiracy theories are rampant, where good people in a lot of instances have been mislead and believe things that are not true,” Cheney continued. “And so, I think that we all have an obligation to make sure we’re doing everything we can to convey the truth, to stand for the truth and to stand for the Constitution and our obligations.”

Hours earlier, New York Republican Rep.Elise Stefanik, a vocal ally of the former President who has a less conservative voting record than Cheney, was elected House conference chairwoman. The key difference between the two women is that Stefanik has supported Trump’s baseless claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election while Cheney hasrepeatedly rebutted them, leading House Republicans to complain that the Wyoming Republican is undermining the party’s message of promoting Trump’s brand of politics.

Cheney hasdropped some hintsabout her next steps as they relate to shaping the future of the party, confirming that she will run for reelection for her US House seat next year while also not ruling out a run for president.

“I intend to be the leader, one of the leaders, in a fight to help to restore our party,” she told NBC in an interview that aired Thursday morning, warning that Trump is willing “to unravel the democracy to come back into power.”

Read more here.

Rep.Elise Stefanik’s rise within the ranks of House GOP leadership and Rep. Liz Cheney’s removal starklyunderscores the Republican Party’s entrenched loyalty to former President Trump and the limited extent to which it is willing to tolerate dissent even after Trump’s election lies incited a deadly attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6.

Aides close to the race also told CNN that Stefanik’s quick rise was emblematic of the congresswoman’s own ambitions.

“She just outhustled everyone,” one senior GOP aide told CNN.

Amid Trump’s false claims over voter fraud, Stefanik supported an objection during the Electoral College vote count to affirm President Biden’s win. She also signed on in support of an amicus brief backing a lawsuit from Texas to the Supreme Court that sought to overturn the results of the election in several states.

Trump stood by Stefanik in her run for the leadership post and weighed in on Rep. Chip Roy’s late entry into the race Thursday evening with a statement slamming the congressman and reiterating his support for the congresswoman.

Stefanik has made a pitch to House Republicans that she will help deliver on a message of unity and united opposition to Democrats in Congress and in the White House as the party works to win back the House majority in 2022.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy congratulated Stefanik on her election at a news conference after the vote, before pivoting to criticism of Democrats.

“I want to congratulate Elise Stefanik and welcome her to the leadership team,” he said, adding that Republicans had “a healthy debate and a good election.”

Stefanik did face pushback from some conservative House Republicans in her bid for leadership.

The congresswoman represents a district that pivoted in the past from voting for former President Barack Obama to Trump and she has long been known on Capitol Hill as a more moderate Republican. And while the congresswoman has made a name for herself as an ardent Trump supporter in recent years, that wasn’t always the case.

In 2015, 2016 and the early days of his term in office,she criticized Trump on a range of issuesfrom his incendiary comments about Muslims and women to his signature policy positions, such as overhauling NATO, building a US-Mexico border wall and having stronger cooperation with Russia.

When House Democrats moved to impeach Trump for the first time in 2019, however, Stefanik emerged as one of the President’s most outspoken defenders, taking on Democrats and earning Trump’s praise as “a new Republican star.”

Read more about today’s vote here.

After a failed attempt to challenge Rep. Elise Stefanik’s bid to be House Republican conference chair, Rep. Chip Roy told reporters, “look, thecountry wins when we have a robust debate. I think Elise agrees with that.”

The Texas Republican dismissedformer President Donald Trump’s statement saying he would likely be primaried in 2022 as “beltway drama.”

“We’re here trying to do our job and carry forward the message for the American people. And, you know, I stood up in defense of policies that the President supports,” he said, aligning himself with the former President on various issues.

Roy did not answer when asked whether he thought any of Trump’s ire was due to his vote to certify the Electoral College results for President Biden on January 6.

Rep. Liz Cheney wasn’t at today’s Republican conference meeting, a source with direct knowledge confirms to CNN.

CNN reported earlier that she was not seen at the event. Cheney declined to answer CNN’s Daniella Diaz’s questions when asked about it.

House Republicans voted this morning to replace Cheney with Rep. Elise Stefanik after ousting Cheney from the role on Wednesday for her opposition to former President Trump.

Newly elected Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik told reporters after her victory that former President Donald Trump is the leader of the Republican Party but his outspoken critics like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger still have a place in the party.

But she added, “Liz Cheney is a part of this conference. Adam Kinzinger is a part of this conference. They were elected and sent here by the people in their district. They’re part of this Republican conference. We are unified in working with President Trump. My job representing our Republican members, the vast majority who look forward to working with President Trump.”

Stefanik stated her belief that the Republican Party is a “big tent party,” even though Cheney was ousted for criticizing Trump, and Trump suggested that Chip Roy should be primaried just for running in the conference chair race.

Stefanik said she has not spoken to Cheney this week.

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Whip Steve Scalise and Conference Vice Chair Mike Johnson all congratulated Stefanik.

“I want to congratulate Elise Stefanik, and welcome her to the leadership team. I want to thank Chip Roy, as well. We had a healthy debate and a good election. We’ve got a lot of work to do in this leadership team. We’v got a lot of work to do in this conference. The policies of Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden are destroying this nation,” McCarthy said.

“I also want to congratulate our new conference chair, Elise Stefanik.Congratulations, you’re going to do a great job. Our conference is incredibly unified right now, but we’re also very concerned because America is experiencing numerous crises,” Scalise added.

Johnson, who previously had not publicly supported Stefanik said, “we are unified.”

“There is a great feeling coming out of that auditorium today, and we are ready to face this challenge to present this vision to get our message to the American people and to take back the house in 2022.”

Three sources say they did not see Rep. Liz Cheney at the leadership meeting today where Rep. Elise Stefanik was elected as her replacement.

Her office told CNN they are not sure if she attended or not.

On Wednesday, Republicans ousted Cheney from the conference chair roleafter she repeatedly called outformer President Donald Trump’s “Big Lie”that the 2020 election was stolen.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, who was just voted to the No. 3 leadership position of conference chair after House Republicans ousted Rep. Liz Cheney, said her focus will be on unifying the party.

Stefanik thanked former President Trump for his support and called him “a critical part of ourRepublican team.”

The New York lawmaker slammed President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s policies, saying the GOP will fight against their measures.

“The American people aresuffering under the far leftradical socialist policies ofPresident Joe Biden and SpeakerNancy Pelosi.In just over 100 days, we havean economic crisis.We have a border crisis.And we have a national securitycrisis,” she told reporters.

Stefanik said she is “very excited” for the opportunity to be conference chair, and said House Republicans are “unified working as oneteam.”

“The American people knowthat the stakes are incrediblyhigh.We are going to fight for themeach and every day against thedestructive, radical far leftsocialist agenda of presidentJoe Biden and Nancy Pelosithat’s destroying America,” she said.

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Rep. Ken Buck attends a House Judiciary Committee hearing in June 2020.

Rep. Ken Buck, a Republican member of the Freedom Caucus, said he spoke up for Rep. Chip Roy because “he’s more conservative” and “more aligned” with the conference.

Asked if he was worried former President Trump would turn on him now that he came out in support of Roy, he said. “I’ve been looking for an exit strategy for six and a half years so if that is the exit strategy, that’s ok”

Buck said that he doesn’t feel worried that the election happened too fast. He said he doesn’t think the outcome would have been any different in a week and added that it’s now time to move on.

House Republicans voted to elevate Rep. Elise Stefanik to the No. 3 leadership position of conference chair after ousting Rep. Liz Cheney over her opposition to former President Trump.

Stefanik’s rise within the party and embrace of Trump in recent years represents an evolution that mirrors that of her party, which coalesced behind Trump and remains loyal to him even with the former President no longer in office and after he attempted to overturn the last presidential election and incited a deadly attack on the US Capitol.

In 2016, Stefanik backed Trump as the party’s presidential nominee, but worked to portray herself as an independent voice for her district.

She aligned herself at the timewith House Speaker Paul Ryan, another Republican leader who carefully tiptoed around Trump’s more outlandish comments and spoke out occasionally when he believed the President crossed the line.

In those early years, Stefanik largely kept out of the Trump fray, focusing instead on work on the Armed Services and Intelligence committees, though she broke with Trump over some key priorities, including his decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord and the 2017 GOP tax bill.

When House Democrats moved to impeach Trump for the first time in 2019, however, Stefanikemerged as one of the President’s most outspoken defenders, earning Trump’s praise in the process with the President calling her “a new Republican star.”

During Trump’s false claims over voter fraud and the 2020 election, Stefanik supported an objection during the Electoral College vote count in Congress held to certify President Joe Biden’s win. She also signed on in support of an amicus brief backing a lawsuit from Texas to the Supreme Court that sought to overturn the results of the election in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia.

Now, Stefanikhas Trump’s backing to replace Cheneywith the former President saying that she “is a far superior choice, and she has my COMPLETE and TOTAL Endorsem*nt for GOP Conference Chair.”

Read more about her career here.

House Republicans just voted to elevate Rep. Elise Stefanik to the No. 3 leadership position of conference chair.

The final result was 134 votes for Stefanik and 46 for Rep. Chip Roy, according to multiple sources in the room.

Earlier this week, Republicans ousted Rep. Liz Cheney from the conference chair roleafter she repeatedly called outformer President Donald Trump’s “Big Lie”that the 2020 election was stolen.

From left, Representatives Chip Roy and Elise Stefanik.

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Things are moving quickly in the leadership election and the vote for new House GOP conference chair is starting, according to a source in the room.

Elise Stefanik, ahigh-profile Trump defender, faces a conservative challenger —GOP Rep. Chip Roy— but his candidacy is viewed as a long-shot and she is widely anticipated to win.

Reps. John Katko, Ashley Hinson and Mike Kelly all gave speeches for Stefanik, per a member in the room.

Rep. Ralph Norman addressed the GOP conference to second Rep. Ken Buck’s nomination for Roy as conference chair, per a member in the room.

Rep. Lauren Boebert also spoke to nominate Roy.

Rep. John Katko speaks at a press conference on April 14.

A source familiar tells CNN this morning that Rep. John Katko will give the nominating speech for Rep.Elise Stefanik

Katko was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeachformer President Trump and was an ally of Rep. Liz Cheney, who was ousted from the role of conference chair on Wednesday.

House Republicans are meeting now and are expected to vote to elevate Rep.Elise Stefanikto the No. 3 leadership position of conference chair after ousting Rep. Liz Cheney from the role.

Stefanik, ahigh-profile defender of former President Donald Trump, faces a conservative challenger —GOP Rep. Chip Roy— but his candidacy is viewed as a long-shot and she is widely anticipated to win. The New York congresswoman has the backing of House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, Whip Steve Scalise and Trump.

How the process will unfold: After some speeches, including nominating speeches, there will be a secret ballot election.

The closed meeting, GOP sources say, is expected to take about an hour.

Rep. Chip Roy, center, walks with reporters on Friday.

Rep. Chip Roy, who is challenging Rep. Elise Stefanik for the conference chair, position told reporters as he entered the room where the vote is happening that “it’s critically important that we have a strong, united message” but called for “a better process” on how this election takes place.

House Republicans are expected to vote today to elevate Stefanikto the No. 3 leadership position of conference chair after ousting Rep. Liz Cheney from the role.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, who is seen as the favorite to become the Republican Party’s next conference chair told reporters yesterday that the candidate forum between her and Rep. Chip Roy for the position was “a great discussion.”

Asked how she made her pitch to her colleagues, Stefanik said, “I was focused on unifying the conference. Making sure that we have, every member, has an opportunity to shine, rank and file members, and how we win the majority in 2022.”

When pressed on how many votes she has, as she previously enlisted many of her colleagues to do a whip count for her on her behalf, Stefanik said, “we are in a strong position.”

Asked about Roy’s last minute bid challenging her for the position, Stefanik told reporters, “I think anybody can run.”

“I’m not going to attack anyone for running. I think it’s healthy to have a debate and discussion” Stefanik added.

Asked how he contrasted himself with Stefanik, Roy said, “I think you can look at the policy issues and see a pretty clear distinction,” but pledged unity after the vote tomorrow. “We’re all gonna walk out tomorrow united against the Democratic Party that is literally destroying our country by the day.”

Roy said he did not want to get into his opposition to the electoral objection, when asked if he considered it an important distinction with Stefanik.

“I’m not going to get into any of the specifics, all I’m going to do is just say that this is a good, strong, robust conversation among my colleagues including Elise.”

Stefanik said the lawmakers did not discuss President Trump or the 2020 election.

Rep. Elise Stefanik arrives on Capitol Hill on Friday, May 14.

Rep. Elise Stefanik walked into the conference room where the election for conference chair will start at approximately 8:30 a.m. ET.

Stefanik walked in through a door far away from where reporters are allowed to stand.

Stefanik, ahigh-profile Trump defender, faces a conservative challenger —GOP Rep. Chip Roy— but his candidacy is viewed as a long-shot, and she is widely anticipated to win.

The New York representative has the backing of House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, Whip Steve Scalise and former President Donald Trump.

The voteto oust Rep. Liz Cheneyfrom her leadership position took only 16 minutes.

Before the House Republican Conference met Wednesday morning to oust the Wyoming congresswoman from her position as the third-ranking Republican member in Congress, sources told CNN they expected it to be quick.

But it happened so quickly that some members arrived just in time for the vote. It stood in contrast to the more than four-hour meeting and vote that took place on February 4 thatkept Cheney in leadership at the time, following her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump for his role in inciting the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

The meeting began with Cheney giving remarks to her colleagues, where sheonce againcalled out Trump for his “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen and other Republicans who aided his efforts to overturn his loss, charging that she would lead “the fight to restore our party and our nation to conservative principles.”

Sources told CNN that when she criticized Trump, she was booed by some of her colleagues.

She concluded her remarks with a prayer, which earned her a standing ovation, according to Rep. Ken Buck, a conservative Colorado Republican.

Then, Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina made the motion to recall Cheney, thus formally beginning the process of removing her as conference chair.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy spoke briefly and a voice vote was called. Because it was a voice vote, there is no tally of those who supported or opposed Cheney.

A source in the room told CNN that McCarthy made the same pointshe wrote in his letter released on Mondaybefore the vote.

Another source told CNN that five lawmakers stood to request a recorded vote to remove Cheney from the leadership — but that did not happen and the gavel came down.

Cheney told colleagues it was up to McCarthy, a California Republican, whether he wanted a voice vote or not “and Kevin asked for voice,” the source said.

After her ouster, Cheney walked out of the meeting and addressed reporters, saying she plans to lead the fight to move the Republican Party closer to the fundamental principles of conservatism.

Rep. Liz Cheneytold House Republicans in privateon Wednesday that it’s time to reject former President Trump’s big lie that he won the election because failing to do so will “make us complicit in his efforts to unravel our democracy.”

But GOP lawmakers don’t want to hear it.

From the most conservative members to ones in swing districts, a wide range of Republicans either back Trump outright, endorse aspects of his claims or hope the issue will simply go away so they won’t have to weigh in — eager to avoid becoming mincemeat for Trump, who is demanding total loyalty despitehis evidence-free argumentthat the election was rigged.

Many argue more investigation is needed over mail-in voting even though Trump’s own Justice Department determined there wasno evidence of widespread fraud, all 50 states certified their elections and the former President and his allieslost in dozens of court cases includingbefore the US Supreme Court. And most blame Cheney — not Trump — for injecting the issue back into the national spotlight.

“No one knows about whether what happened in the election,” New York Rep. Claudia Tenney, who won one of thetightest races in the country, told CNN after the vote to oust Cheney on Wednesday. “We don’t know if it was stolen or not, (Cheney) doesn’t know, I don’t know, the President doesn’t know. But what I know is we need to fix it.”

And some say that Trump truly won — roundly dismissing his role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

Rep. Jody Hice, a Republicanrunning for secretary of stateof Georgia with Trump’s support, said that the former President would have a won his state “if there was a fair election.”

Asked if he believed Trump actually won reelection in 2020, Hice said in an interview: “I believe if it was a fair election, yes. I believe absolutely.”

Indeed, Cheney’s viewrepresents a minority of the House GOP Conference— an uncomfortable reality for House GOP leaders who recognize that relitigating the validity of the 2020 elections is not a winning message heading into the 2022 midterms when control of Congress is at stake.

And that was a big reason why Republican leaders were eager to eject Cheney from her No. 3 spot, hoping that pushing her into the rank-and-file would minimize what they viewed are unneeded distractions within their own leadership ranks.

Read the full story here.

The House Republican Conferencevoted Wednesday morning to oust Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheneyas GOP conference chair. It’s adramatic turnaround for the conservative representative, who was elected to the position less than three years ago at the encouragement of Republican leadership.

Despite Cheney voting in line with former President Donald Trump’s agenda92.9%of the time, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has said hesupports replacing herwith New York Rep. Elise Stefanik. After the Jan. 6 insurrection, Cheneyvoted to impeach Trumpwhile Stefanik voted against.

The events of the past few months stand in stark contrast to Cheney’s decades-long career where she served the GOP in roles that ranged from the Department of State to guest hosting on Fox News.

Former President Trump made clear Thursday that he planned to back New York Rep. Elise Stefanik’s bid for the No. 3 House GOP leadership position, despite a challenge from Texas Rep. Chip Roy.

What we know: Stefanik, ahigh-profile Trump defender, faces conservative challenger Chip Roy Roy but his candidacy is viewed as a long-shot and she is widely anticipated to win. The New York congresswoman also has the backing of House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy and Whip Steve Scalise.

Roy, a member of the far-right and Trump-aligned House Freedom Caucus,sent a letter to colleagues earlier this week casting doubt on Stefanik’s qualifications.

“I do believe that she should have an opponent,” Roy said Thursday.

Roy said that while he has respect for Stefanik, his concern is the pace at which the vote to fill the post is happening.

“One of my biggest problems is that we’re not taking the time to have this conversation,” Roy said.

He argued that he thought it was “purposeful” to try to “jam” the vote through.

On the heels of Rep. Liz Cheney’sousting from her leadership postWednesday morning, Rep. Elise Stefanik was out with a letter to her colleagues outlining why she wants to fill the post.

Stefanik has been working the phones for days trying to convince members to back her and is the only candidate in the race, despite growing concerns from more conservative members of the caucus who have raised issues with her voting record.

Read the full letter:

The leadership election will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET for House Republicans to select their new No. 3, where Rep. Elise Stefanik is widely expected to prevail over challenger, Rep. Chip Roy, Republican sources said.

Roy told CNN on Thursday that he was planning to run against Stefanik.

What we know about the secret ballot vote: After some speeches, including nominating speeches, there will be a secret ballot election.

The closed meeting, GOP sources say, is expected to take about an hour.