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The Republican primary in Ohio’s 9th congressional district — one of the nation’s most closely watched U.S. House races — was already messy. As NBC News reported, it just got a little worse.
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the chair of the House Republican conference, announced [yesterday] that she was withdrawing her endorsement of Craig Riedel in a congressional race in Ohio after audio of Riedel talking about Trump leaked. “I was very disappointed in his inappropriate comments regarding President Trump,” Stefanik said on X [formerly Twitter]. “As we begin 2024, my focus is on ensuring we nominate the strongest candidates on the ballot who are committed to electing President Trump this November and expanding our House GOP Majority.”
For those who might benefit from a recap, let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans thought they’d put the pieces in place to defeat Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, the longest-serving woman in the history of the U.S. House. Those plans collapsed when local GOP voters ignored establishment-backed candidates and nominated J.R. Majewski, who was best known for his pro-Trump lawn art.
After Majewski won the primary, the public learned that the far-right candidate was far from truthful about his military record, at which point the party abandoned his candidacy, and Kaptur won by roughly 13 points.
Despite his failure, Majewski launched a comeback bid last year, only to drop out a month later. The Ohioan then reversed course again and announced a new candidacy against Kaptur.
This didn’t sit well with many party insiders — it’s tough to put a positive spin on exaggerations about military service, and that was not the far-right candidate’s only problem — who were delighted when state Rep. Craig Riedel announced he’d run against Majewski in a primary. He picked up Republican endorsements, including support from the House Republican Conference chair, and appeared far more electable than his far-right rival who lost by double digits a year earlier.
Everything appeared to be on track for the party, until a problem emerged: Riedel was heard on a leaked audio recording saying mildly critical things about Trump.
Riedel scrambled, endorsing Trump, and even running ads on Fox News in Florida in the hopes that the former president would see them. But for much of the party, it was too late: Unkind words about the likely GOP nominee was a deal-breaker, and some of Riedel’s high-profile backers pulled their support.
This week, Stefanik joined them. Mild criticisms of the failed former president are apparently a bridge too far for the New York congresswoman.
In the 2022 elections, Stefanik confronted a related opportunity. In her home state, Carl Paladino ran a Republican congressional campaign, and despite his history of racism, homophobia, and utterly bonkers conspiracy theories, Stefanik endorsed his candidacy.
In June 2022, NBC News reported on an earlier interview in which Paladino said that Adolf Hitler was “the kind of leader we need today.” I largely assumed Stefanik would abandon the GOP candidate.
She didn’t. Paladino ultimately lost a primary race, but he never lost the support of the House Republican Conference chair. In fact, Politico reported at the time, “Stefanik not only endorsed Carl Paladino ... she also dispatched her trusted aides to the district in Western New York, where they personally advised the candidate.”
In other words, if a Stefanik-backed Republican says Hitler is “the kind of leader we need today,” she’ll stand by the intraparty candidate, but if a Stefanik-backed Republican has a few unkind words about Trump, she’ll leave that candidate behind.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.