This will not be a return to the pre-Trump stale Republican Party, it will have to expand.

After 12 years in Congress serving at the highest levels of our nation’s federal government, I want to take this opportunity to thank the people of our great state — Republicans, Independents, and Democrats. And thank you to the voters in my district, who cycle after cycle in good years and bad, placed their trust and faith in me to represent them.

I never felt entitled for your vote and I always worked my very hardest to earn it.

There will be a lot written and discussed about the national repudiation of Republicans this cycle and I look forward to that conversation. However, New York deserves its own special attention after the historic loss at the ballot box. It is time to learn and rebuild.

My theory of the case, having a front row seat to the political ups and downs over the past decade, has always been that President Trump is one of one — he is a singular figure larger than partisan politics. He built a unique historic coalition in 2016, mounted the most noteworthy political comeback of all time, survived an assassination attempt, and won the popular vote in 2024.

He also energizes and unifies Democrats and swing voters in a way no other political figure has ever done. In order to win, the next generation of Republicans will need to come to terms that Trump will not be on the ballot. Candidates are on their own to re-energize and inspire the Trump coalition of working class people and offer real solutions to win independents and swing voters to grow the tent.

This will not be a return to the pre-Trump stale Republican Party, it will have to expand.

This cycle, America saw a new generation of Democrat Socialist candidates successfully co-opt Trump’s original outsiders’ populist message of fighting for the little guy and working men and women from all walks of life. That movement started right here in New York, where smiling Socialists masking deep anti-Americanism are successfully on the march and in elected office.

Another important part of my political theory of the case is that we are living through a historic political realignment that is clearly swinging hard towards Socialism today, but will swing back with a vengeance in the next five to 10 years.

Republicans should not blow this opportunity.

America loves a comeback story and Republicans are going to need to write one.

There is no better place to do that than New York.

Unlike so many in elected office, I don’t come from a political family. I first cut my teeth in New York politics in high school when I was a volunteer at the Republican State Committee headquarters in Albany — stuffing envelopes, making posters and phone calls. That was back in the day when Republicans controlled statewide office with Gov. George Pataki at the helm with a savvy, smart operational partner in GOP State Party Chair Bill Powers.

I was further inspired to pursue public service after the deadly terrorist attacks on 9/11.

Back then, I never would have imagined I would make history serving in the United States Congress, let alone in top House leadership.

Whether fighting for small businesses and Upstate farms, being rated as one of the most effective elected officials in America, setting off the long overdue earthquake in higher education, or shaping our national defense strategy as a senior Member of the House Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, I have been grateful to earn support cycle after cycle from my constituents with a broad and sweeping coalition of Republicans, Independents, and Democrats.

When I first ran for Congress 14 years ago, the old Republican guard loved to say: “she can’t win,” “she’s too conservative for the district,” “she’s just a young girl from Upstate,” “she will lose.”

Some still say that today. I spent two years, and then the next 12, traversing the largest geographic district in New York and east of the Mississippi River leaving no stone unturned and earning support directly from the voters. Listening to them and hearing them — on national frustrations, but importantly on state, regional, and local issues as well.

I listened to voters and focused on delivering a record of clear and consistent results with a potent combination of national issues coupled with deep understanding and connection to local, state, and regional issues.

That coupled with exceptional constituent services and a very consistent and disciplined messaging strategy, cycle after cycle, we broke electoral records for any Republican in the Northeast and fundraising records nationwide.

And I paid it forward. I worked to flip nearly every county in my district. I also served in top leadership to deliver the House Majority through smart candidate recruitment and national fundraising.

Importantly, I always ran on an effective, meaningful policy platform attuned to voters’ concerns on real issues nationally and locally with a record of consistent, tangible, and real results — big and small. I always showed up. And voters in turn showed up for me.

I share this as I am leaving Congressional service because I believe Republicans in New York and across America can and should learn from this. The broad and consistently winning “Elise Coalition” was built of highly energized Republicans, nearly a quarter of registered Democrats, and the vast majority of Independents.

There was no pre-existing political machine in Upstate, we had to build it from scratch. That gargantuan effort turned a sleepy, low turnout district into the highest voter turnout district in the state. With a 100% win record. Full stop. For 14 years and seven ballots. We took a 50/50 bellwether district and won by such large margins with such strong coattails down-ballot, that we made it look easy where it was written off ad nauseum by the media as a safe Republican district.

Turn’s out, that was absolutely wrong and was lazy reporting all along. It is now back to a knife’s edge 50/50.

Last year, I made the difficult, but correct, decision not to run for governor of New York. As a working Mom to our young son coupled with professional responsibilities serving in Congress in a slim Majority where every vote is essentially decided by one vote, it was not the right time.

Additionally, I was concerned there was a lack of urgency for the need to rebuild the Republican apparatus. There was far too much party infighting, coupled with regional state fiefdoms, and not enough focus on the people.

I also had a sense that Republicans were failing to deliver an agenda or communicate a message that was worthy of the mandate voters had generously given us in 2024.

The focus of top House leadership became surviving another day in power rather than listening to the American people and delivering solutions on affordability, housing, and lowering energy costs.

Yes, Congress delivered the expansive and important One Big Beautiful Bill where I cast the deciding vote, but other than the message discipline of New York Republicans communicating on the historic tax cut we delivered on SALT, did Republican candidates ever really explain why the bill is so important? The answer is no. It showed up in exactly zero exit polls.

We know it is possible for Republicans to make inroads electorally and strategically in New York. Over the past decade, I successfully delivered real results to my constituents while rebuilding the Republican Party in my district and nationwide by supporting and helping elect a historic number of Republican candidates both in our state and across the country — including a historic number of women.

As the highest ranking New York Republican to serve in Congress in over a century, I worked closely with Speakers of the House when we delivered the House Majority through New York. We developed a savvy winning legal strategy to defeat the New York Democrats’ attempted gerrymander in the courts.

And let’s not forget, Lee Zeldin ran a generationally great statewide race with a strong state party chair in Nick Langworthy coupled with savvy Congressional candidates like Mike Lawler who flipped key districts. These were smart and massive wins on the board that were wiped away in last week’s blue tsunami.

I think back to a lengthy one-on-one conversation I had late last spring with still one of the smartest tacticians in New York politics, former governor George Pataki — one of my friends and neighbors on beautiful Lake Champlain. A few hours learning from him is worth more than decades of any consultant. He wisely suggested that part of the winning strategy must be a complete rebuild of the New York GOP apparatus and state party that was accomplished before he won in 1994 — a historic wave year for Republicans.

He was right. There is no question that needs to happen and it needed to happen yesterday. We have seen a hollowing out of the Republican support in the Hudson Valley while previous strongholds like parts of Upstate New York and Long Island have slipped away and are aging out. This suggestion is meant to be honest and productive, putting the voters — not the party insiders — first.

You have regions and races where New York Republicans didn’t even put candidates on the ballot. On Election Day, Elon’s patriotic mom, Maye Musk, earnestly tweeted a telling photo of the fact that there wasn’t a single Republican judicial candidate on her ballot. So prescient and on point, as usual, for the widely admired matriarch of the Musk family.

Which brings me to the most important lesson in politics and it is about what matters most — the voters.

The people are, by far, the best part of the job serving in elected office. I have always strongly believed that voters are smart and astute. As a candidate, you can never be entitled to certain voters, you have to earn it in every election.

You also can’t tell voters what to care about. They tell you and your job is to listen and put forth real solutions and deliver results.

Republicans did not do enough listening, let alone hearing. We didn’t earn or build the apparatus needed to win. There was a sense of entitlement on Republican strongholds whether Upstate or on Long Island, and those slipped away. There was a stark tone-deafness on affordability and a lack of clear agenda of how Republicans would tackle it.

Voters don’t like being taken for granted. And they shouldn’t be. This, coupled with a record-setting low fundraising crisis for the statewide ticket in New York — the lowest in a century — made for a cauldron of epic losses.

And the sad reality is that the voters of New York of all political parties desperately deserve an alternative to this sickening Socialist-Marxist-antisemitic experiment that we are undergoing in our city and state under single-party Democrat rule.

Republicans have an enormous opportunity to rebuild. It will take a new generation capable of thinking outside the box, playing on offense in all parts of the state, rebuilding from scratch at the local level, lots of honest conversations rather than finger pointing and lashing out on X. There needs to be a deep, substantive post-mortem. And we need to have the courage to say what every voter is thinking: there needs to be new Republican leadership in our state.

Most importantly, as I have done for over a decade, Republicans will have to meet voters where they are, have a big tent approach, and put forth solutions to solve real and dire economic and existential challenges that hardworking families are facing in their day to day lives.

Voters are genuinely looking for leadership and how to get involved. The dangerous radical Left in New York is very tactically issue-focused with specific 24/7 organizing tasks, bottled with a slick communications behemoth behind it.

Republicans should take note. It needs to not just be the grand old party but instead an entire rebuild of the apparatus of institutions, media, organizations, and technological tools built to win.

New York City is the most dynamic and resilient city in the world coupled with the beautiful Great Upstate that delivered the first victory of the Revolutionary War at Saratoga 250 years ago. There is no question that New York politics is some of the toughest and bare-knuckled in the nation. Don’t I know it!

My fellow New York Republican Congressional delegation colleagues often joke to one another that electeds in other parts of the country have no idea how tough it is to win elections as a Republican in New York. We need our own brand, we need to build a broad coalition, and we need to rebuild in a way that is compelling to voters whose trust Republicans lost this cycle across the nation.

As a lifelong New Yorker, Mom, Congresswoman, and a New York voter myself, I am looking forward to this next chapter and having an honest conversation in the months and years to come with people from all walks of life about how we must save our state and country after this Election Day walloping.

At heart, New Yorkers and Americans are builders and fighters.

It’s time to build.

And then we need to fight and win.

Elise Stefanik served as representative for New York’s 21st congressional district since 2015.

Bernie Sanders, the 85-year-old Vermont socialist who has been in Congress since the early 1990s and has only had a career in government, just turned on Chuck Schumer. This week he announced he will not back the New York Democrat for Senate majority leader when Democrats take control in January because, he insists, “the time is now for change.”

The man who has spent more than three decades on the public payroll declared that last week’s midterms prove voters want a “new and bold direction.” 

“I personally have known Chuck Schumer for over 30 years and I like Chuck, nobody who works harder than Chuck Schumer. But in my view, the time is now for change and I will not be supporting Chuck to be reelected as the Democratic leader,” Sanders said.

In reality, the far left is already treating its Senate win as a blank check for more radicalism, more spending, and more hostility toward anyone who stands in the way.

He was not alone. Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin stood beside him at the Capitol and declaredshe is “not actively seeking this job. I am seeking change.” She added that she has “been very consistent for a very long time that we need a new generation of leadership.” Slotkin left the door open to voting for Schumer, but only after she sees a concrete plan for the first 100 daysthat puts “money in people’s pockets” and changes how Democrats communicate. In other words, the same progressive priorities, just sold by a different messenger.

The progressive activists can be counted on to join their lifetime government employee in the belief that Schumer is no longer a good fit. Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen is the only Democrat openly weighing a run, and they are already trying to draft him. He is still “actively listening” and warned against a “coronation,” saying “We should not support anybody for leader without a very clear plan.” So far, the only clear plan on offer is more of the failed agenda that produced the very problems Democrats claim they now want to fix.

Schumer, for his part, is pretending nothing is wrong. He insisted the caucus has “great unity” and that he’ll “be proud to lead it as majority leader.” Not everyone is defecting. Returning Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, asked whether he backs Schumer, answered with one word: “Yes.”

Then there is the filibuster. With at least 54 seats, the far left wants Democrats to scrap it so they can ram through their agenda without a single Republican vote. Sanders would not commit. “That’s a very important question, and I haven’t reached an answer on it,” he said, while praising majority rule and fretting about “protecting minority rights.” The same party that spent years warning about threats to democracy is now openly discussing how to silence the minority the moment it holds the gavel.

Senate Democrats vote on their leader next month. Schumer has led the caucus for nearly a decade. Now his own side is openly demanding he be replaced before the new Congress even begins. If this is what he means by “great unity,” the party is already splitting in public.

New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America, the left-wing machine that helped put Mayor Zohran Mamdani in City Hall and place four of its members on the City Council, now admits what many have noted for years. The chapter is too white to match the city it claims to speak for, as reported by the New York Post. 

The numbers are not new. An internal survey reported in August found 60% of NYC-DSA members identify as white in a city that is roughly 34% white. That’s whiter than the Democratic Party overall, about 56% white per Pew. A 2021 national DSA survey put membership at 85% white. The chapter claims more than 15,000 members; 63% responded. Among non-white respondents: Hispanic 14%, Jewish 12%, Asian 10%, Black 9%.

At its City Convention this Saturday, November 14, NYC-DSA will vote on creating an “Anti-Oppression Task Force” (also called a “Task Force to Promote Equitable Organizing Culture”) that would push chapter leaders into diversity training. The resolution states that the group wants to grow among the “multiracial, multigendered working class” but concedes it has “historically faced well-documented challenges recruiting and retaining people of color” and that its membership “does not reflect the racial diversity of our city.” 

The irony is not hard to miss. NYC-DSA has elevated candidates of color, including Mamdani, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Reps.-elect Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, while its own ranks still look more like an Ivy League faculty lounge than the five boroughs. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, after watching a Valdez victory celebration, told CNN there was “almost zero diversity in that crowd.” Queens Borough President Donovan Richards welcomed the diversification talk, with a condition. “We hope the equity task force is representative of Black and brown communities,” Richards said. “We hope black and brown members will be in charge of the task force.”

The hypocrisy is egregious on its face. Co-chair Gustavo Gordillo, a Yale graduate who marketed himself as a hardworking labor union member with working-class roots, lives in a$1.5 million Bedford-Stuyvesant townhouse gifted by his wealthy father, with another $1.4 million spent on renovations, according to the Post. Civil rights leader Rev. Kevin McCall had already called for Gordillo’s resignation. On the new task force, McCall said it could be a first step, but only if the chapter opens the doors. “Our campaign to hold the DSA accountable and tell the truth about their privilege is resonating with some rank-and-file members,” McCall said. “As a first test to whether their leadership will confront its own hypocrisy with meaningful action, the DSA should open the doors of their convention, invite black and brown communities into the conversation, and listen to those they claim to help.”

Meanwhile, another resolution aims to install a “socialist speaker of the City Council in 2029” to “hold the mayor accountable from the left,” even as the same organization cannot recruit a membership that matches the city. More task forces, more trainings, more jargon about the “multiracial, multigendered working class,” and the same gap between rhetoric and reality.

Delegates vote Saturday. New Yorkers already know the score.

On Monday, the White House released “Promises Made, Promises Kept,” a detailed accounting of results from President Donald J. Trump’s second term. It lists 127 items across roughly 25 categories.

Border numbers lead the domestic results. In FY 2026, Border Patrol recorded 98,708 southwest border apprehensions, a 95% drop from more than 1.8 million per year under Biden. It was the first fiscal year with zero releases, and no illegal aliens have been released into the interior for 17 straight months. The administration deployed troops on Day One, restored Remain in Mexico policy, shut down the CBP One app, ended TPS for 13 countries, and expanded the travel ban to 19 high-risk countries.

Unaccompanied minors tell the same story. Customs and Border Protection encountered just 763 at the southern border in August 2026, down nearly 95% from 14,237 in August 2023 under Biden. After the Biden Administration lost track of 325,000 migrant children, the Trump Administration has located over 157,000 of them. Border construction is advancing. President Trump secured $46.5 billion for it through the Working Families Tax Cuts legislation, and CBP has completed 250 miles of new barrier since January 20, 2025.

Deportations are moving. The illegal alien population has been reduced by at least 2.3 million, with nearly 1.2 million deported or removed. ICE has carried out nearly 1.3 million arrests, more than doubled its ranks, and secured more than 2,500 state and local partnerships. The Laken Riley Act (signed into law in January 2025), named for the nursing student killed by an illegal alien, mandates detention and deportation of illegal-alien criminals. In 2025, America recorded negative net migration for the first time in at least 50 years. More than 10 cartels, including Tren de Aragua and MS-13, were designated terrorist organizations, with over 12,100 gang members arrested.

Crime is falling with it. In 2025, the U.S. murder rate fell 18.1%, tying the lowest rate ever recorded, and violent crime posted the largest annual drop on record. In the first half of 2026, violent crime fell another 10.6% and murders dropped another 23%. Drug overdose deaths have fallen more than 40% from the Biden-era peak. The administration ended federal support for cashless bail, designated Antifa a domestic terrorist organization, and mobilized the National Guard in Washington, D.C., producing sharp drops in homicides and carjackings.

MAHA is delivering too. The scorecard lists new dietary guidelines favoring whole, nutrient-dense foods, steps to phase out petroleum-based artificial dyes, the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act (signed into law in January 2026), $50 billion for rural hospitals, and formal withdrawal from the World Health Organization on January 22, 2026. Prescription drug prices recorded their sharpest drop in 63 years.

Then there are the tax cuts. The Working Families Tax Cuts delivered No Tax on Tips, No Tax on Overtime, and No Tax on Social Security. In the first filing season, more than 53 million filers claimed at least one of the new cuts, with the average refund topping $3,400, up 11%. More than 25 million claimed overtime averaging over $3,100, and more than 30 million seniors claimed the enhanced deduction. The law also created Trump Accounts, with a one-time $1,000 government seed for eligible U.S.-citizen children born from 2025 through 2028.

The economy is answering. The Treasury Department reported third-quarter growth at a 3.4% annual rate. The S&P 500 has notched 28 record closes in 2026 alone, and the economy has added over a million private-sector jobs. Trade deals were secured with the UK, EU, Japan, China, India, South Korea and others, covering more than half of global GDP, while tariffs were used to pressure fentanyl flows, with trafficking down 56%. Beyond the scorecard, Intel, TSMC, Samsung and others have committed massive investments to expand domestic microchip production, creating thousands of advanced manufacturing jobs.

Energy flipped. U.S. oil and natural-gas production hit records. The administration approved the most drilling permits on federal lands in 15 years, opened millions of acres in ANWR, lifted the LNG export freeze, and withdrew from the Paris Accord. It revoked the EV mandate and axed costly appliance efficiency mandates. Farmers received $12 billion in bridge payments, and a $1 billion bird-flu plan drove egg prices down more than 60%.

Deregulation is matching the pace. Last year, President Trump finalized 646 deregulatory actions compared to just five significant regulatory actions, a ratio of 129 to 1, saving Americans an estimated $211.8 billion. The Department of Government Efficiency has saved taxpayers an estimated $215 billion. Federal employment is at 2.68 million, the lowest level since 1966.

President Trump has prioritized veterans and military readiness at a scale not seen in recent administrations. More than $156 billion in new defense funding was secured, and Golden Dome missile defense advanced with $24.4 billion. Recruiting goals were met or exceeded, COVID-vaccine discharges were reinstated with back pay, and historic base names were restored. The VA cut the disability-claims backlog more than 70% and issued a $1,776 tax-free Warrior Dividend to 1.5 million service members. NATO allies agreed to spend 5% of GDP on defense by 2035.

Education and culture mark a sharp reversal. The administration took steps to wind down the Department of Education and return authority to the states, created a nationwide Education Freedom Tax Credit, cut off funding to schools promoting critical race theory or radical gender ideology, and revoked more than 300,000 visas. English was made the official language. The Gulf of Mexico became the Gulf of America, and Mount McKinley was restored.

Election-integrity actions include SAVE-system enhancements and the administration’s push for the SAVE America Act, which has passed the House but not the Senate. The $200 tax on suppressors and short-barreled firearms was eliminated. A Strategic Bitcoin Reserve was created, a central-bank digital currency was banned, and classified records on the JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations were released.

“President Donald J. Trump has executed the most sweeping restoration of American sovereignty, strength, and prosperity in modern history,” the White House release stated. “With ferocious speed and resolve, President Trump has reversed decades of decline, kept more promises than any modern President, and delivered results for working families that once seemed impossible.”

Closed border. Health reset. Lower taxes. Less red tape. More American jobs. 

After 12 years in Congress serving at the highest levels of our nation’s federal government, I want to take this opportunity to thank the people of our great state — Republicans, Independents, and Democrats. And thank you to the voters in my district, who cycle after cycle in good years and bad, placed their trust and faith in me to represent them. 

I never felt entitled for your vote and I always worked my very hardest to earn it. 

There will be a lot written and discussed about the national repudiation of Republicans this cycle and I look forward to that conversation. However, New York deserves its own special attention after the historic loss at the ballot box. It is time to learn and rebuild. 

My theory of the case, having a front row seat to the political ups and downs over the past decade, has always been that President Trump is one of one — he is a singular figure larger than partisan politics. He built a unique historic coalition in 2016, mounted the most noteworthy political comeback of all time, survived an assassination attempt, and won the popular vote in 2024. 

He also energizes and unifies Democrats and swing voters in a way no other political figure has ever done. In order to win, the next generation of Republicans will need to come to terms that Trump will not be on the ballot. Candidates are on their own to re-energize and inspire the Trump coalition of working class people and offer real solutions to win independents and swing voters to grow the tent. 

This will not be a return to the pre-Trump stale Republican Party, it will have to expand.

This cycle, America saw a new generation of Democrat Socialist candidates successfully co-opt Trump’s original outsiders’ populist message of fighting for the little guy and working men and women from all walks of life. That movement started right here in New York, where smiling Socialists masking deep anti-Americanism are successfully on the march and in elected office. 

Another important part of my political theory of the case is that we are living through a historic political realignment that is clearly swinging hard towards Socialism today, but will swing back with a vengeance in the next five to 10 years. 

Republicans should not blow this opportunity. 

America loves a comeback story and Republicans are going to need to write one. 

There is no better place to do that than New York. 

Unlike so many in elected office, I don’t come from a political family. I first cut my teeth in New York politics in high school when I was a volunteer at the Republican State Committee headquarters in Albany — stuffing envelopes, making posters and phone calls. That was back in the day when Republicans controlled statewide office with Gov. George Pataki at the helm with a savvy, smart operational partner in GOP State Party Chair Bill Powers. 

I was further inspired to pursue public service after the deadly terrorist attacks on 9/11. 

Back then, I never would have imagined I would make history serving in the United States Congress, let alone in top House leadership. 

Whether fighting for small businesses and Upstate farms, being rated as one of the most effective elected officials in America, setting off the long overdue earthquake in higher education, or shaping our national defense strategy as a senior Member of the House Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, I have been grateful to earn support cycle after cycle from my constituents with a broad and sweeping coalition of Republicans, Independents, and Democrats. 

When I first ran for Congress 14 years ago, the old Republican guard loved to say: “she can’t win,” “she’s too conservative for the district,” “she’s just a young girl from Upstate,” “she will lose.” 

Some still say that today. I spent two years, and then the next 12, traversing the largest geographic district in New York and east of the Mississippi River leaving no stone unturned and earning support directly from the voters. Listening to them and hearing them — on national frustrations, but importantly on state, regional, and local issues as well. 

I listened to voters and focused on delivering a record of clear and consistent results with a potent combination of national issues coupled with deep understanding and connection to local, state, and regional issues. 

That coupled with exceptional constituent services and a very consistent and disciplined messaging strategy, cycle after cycle, we broke electoral records for any Republican in the Northeast and fundraising records nationwide. 

And I paid it forward. I worked to flip nearly every county in my district. I also served in top leadership to deliver the House Majority through smart candidate recruitment and national fundraising. 

Importantly, I always ran on an effective, meaningful policy platform attuned to voters’ concerns on real issues nationally and locally with a record of consistent, tangible, and real results — big and small. I always showed up. And voters in turn showed up for me. 

I share this as I am leaving Congressional service because I believe Republicans in New York and across America can and should learn from this. The broad and consistently winning “Elise Coalition” was built of highly energized Republicans, nearly a quarter of registered Democrats, and the vast majority of Independents. 

There was no pre-existing political machine in Upstate, we had to build it from scratch. That gargantuan effort turned a sleepy, low turnout district into the highest voter turnout district in the state. With a 100% win record. Full stop. For 14 years and seven ballots. We took a 50/50 bellwether district and won by such large margins with such strong coattails down-ballot, that we made it look easy where it was written off ad nauseum by the media as a safe Republican district. 

Turn’s out, that was absolutely wrong and was lazy reporting all along. It is now back to a knife’s edge 50/50.

Last year, I made the difficult, but correct, decision not to run for governor of New York. As a working Mom to our young son coupled with professional responsibilities serving in Congress in a slim Majority where every vote is essentially decided by one vote, it was not the right time. 

Additionally, I was concerned there was a lack of urgency for the need to rebuild the Republican apparatus. There was far too much party infighting, coupled with regional state fiefdoms, and not enough focus on the people.

I also had a sense that Republicans were failing to deliver an agenda or communicate a message that was worthy of the mandate voters had generously given us in 2024. 

The focus of top House leadership became surviving another day in power rather than listening to the American people and delivering solutions on affordability, housing, and lowering energy costs. 

Yes, Congress delivered the expansive and important One Big Beautiful Bill where I cast the deciding vote, but other than the message discipline of New York Republicans communicating on the historic tax cut we delivered on SALT, did Republican candidates ever really explain why the bill is so important? The answer is no. It showed up in exactly zero exit polls. 

We know it is possible for Republicans to make inroads electorally and strategically in New York. Over the past decade, I successfully delivered real results to my constituents while rebuilding the Republican Party in my district and nationwide by supporting and helping elect a historic number of Republican candidates both in our state and across the country — including a historic number of women. 

As the highest ranking New York Republican to serve in Congress in over a century, I worked closely with Speakers of the House when we delivered the House Majority through New York. We developed a savvy winning legal strategy to defeat the New York Democrats’ attempted gerrymander in the courts. 

And let’s not forget, Lee Zeldin ran a generationally great statewide race with a strong state party chair in Nick Langworthy coupled with savvy Congressional candidates like Mike Lawler who flipped key districts. These were smart and massive wins on the board that were wiped away in last week’s blue tsunami. 

I think back to a lengthy one-on-one conversation I had late last spring with still one of the smartest tacticians in New York politics, former governor George Pataki — one of my friends and neighbors on beautiful Lake Champlain. A few hours learning from him is worth more than decades of any consultant. He wisely suggested that part of the winning strategy must be a complete rebuild of the New York GOP apparatus and state party that was accomplished before he won in 1994 — a historic wave year for Republicans. 

He was right. There is no question that needs to happen and it needed to happen yesterday. We have seen a hollowing out of the Republican support in the Hudson Valley while previous strongholds like parts of Upstate New York and Long Island have slipped away and are aging out. This suggestion is meant to be honest and productive, putting the voters — not the party insiders — first.

You have regions and races where New York Republicans didn’t even put candidates on the ballot. On Election Day, Elon’s patriotic mom, Maye Musk, earnestly tweeted a telling photo of the fact that there wasn’t a single Republican judicial candidate on her ballot. So prescient and on point, as usual, for the widely admired matriarch of the Musk family. 

Which brings me to the most important lesson in politics and it is about what matters most — the voters. 

The people are, by far, the best part of the job serving in elected office. I have always strongly believed that voters are smart and astute. As a candidate, you can never be entitled to certain voters, you have to earn it in every election. 

You also can’t tell voters what to care about. They tell you and your job is to listen and put forth real solutions and deliver results.

Republicans did not do enough listening, let alone hearing. We didn’t earn or build the apparatus needed to win. There was a sense of entitlement on Republican strongholds whether Upstate or on Long Island, and those slipped away. There was a stark tone-deafness on affordability and a lack of clear agenda of how Republicans would tackle it. 

Voters don’t like being taken for granted. And they shouldn’t be. This, coupled with a record-setting low fundraising crisis for the statewide ticket in New York — the lowest in a century — made for a cauldron of epic losses. 

And the sad reality is that the voters of New York of all political parties desperately deserve an alternative to this sickening Socialist-Marxist-antisemitic experiment that we are undergoing in our city and state under single-party Democrat rule. 

Republicans have an enormous opportunity to rebuild. It will take a new generation capable of thinking outside the box, playing on offense in all parts of the state, rebuilding from scratch at the local level, lots of honest conversations rather than finger pointing and lashing out on X. There needs to be a deep, substantive post-mortem. And we need to have the courage to say what every voter is thinking: there needs to be new Republican leadership in our state. 

Most importantly, as I have done for over a decade, Republicans will have to meet voters where they are, have a big tent approach, and put forth solutions to solve real and dire economic and existential challenges that hardworking families are facing in their day to day lives. 

Voters are genuinely looking for leadership and how to get involved. The dangerous radical Left in New York is very tactically issue-focused with specific 24/7 organizing tasks, bottled with a slick communications behemoth behind it. 

Republicans should take note. It needs to not just be the grand old party but instead an entire rebuild of the apparatus of institutions, media, organizations, and technological tools built to win.

New York City is the most dynamic and resilient city in the world coupled with the beautiful Great Upstate that delivered the first victory of the Revolutionary War at Saratoga 250 years ago. There is no question that New York politics is some of the toughest and bare-knuckled in the nation. Don’t I know it! 

My fellow New York Republican Congressional delegation colleagues often joke to one another that electeds in other parts of the country have no idea how tough it is to win elections as a Republican in New York. We need our own brand, we need to build a broad coalition, and we need to rebuild in a way that is compelling to voters whose trust Republicans lost this cycle across the nation.

As a lifelong New Yorker, Mom, Congresswoman, and a New York voter myself, I am looking forward to this next chapter and having an honest conversation in the months and years to come with people from all walks of life about how we must save our state and country after this Election Day walloping.

At heart, New Yorkers and Americans are builders and fighters. 

It’s time to build. 

And then we need to fight and win.

By Elise Stefanik for NY Post – https://nypost.com/2026/11/08/opinion/elise-stefanik-republicans-in-new-york-stopped-listening-to-voters-heres-how-we-rebuild-the-gop/

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo has emerged as the new Maduro of Latin America after rising to office through Biden-backed election fraud.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo has emerged as the new Maduro of Latin America after rising to office through Biden-backed election fraud. Former Attorney General Pam Bondi drew attention to the role Arévalo’s government plays in facilitating the drug trade during an appearance on Fox Noticas last year.

“There is an air bridge where the Venezuelan regime where they pay to have free airspace access undetected to Honduras then Guatemala and to Mexico where they can traffic these drugs, transport these drugs. They are exchanging money for bribes. They are exchanging weapons for the ports of entry and airspace to get these drugs to all these other countries and into the United States,” AG Bondi said.

Earlier this year, three separate prisons were overrun by inmates as chaos consumes Guatemala under Arévalo’s watch. The inmates took 46 hostages in an attempt to gain freedom for Barrio 18 gang leader El Lobo. After El Lobo was subdued and the weekend’s prison revolt was put down, police officers were targeted in a murderous retribution campaign throughout the capital of Guatemala City. At least seven police officers were murdered with ten others injured as the national murder rate soars under Arévalo’s derelict leadership.

Arevalo was elected purportedly to bring an end to the corrupt narcostate in Guatemala, but countless officials with ties to the drug trade or other corrupt dealings are still running rampant under his administration. 

The only officials who are targeted are those with the potential to bring Guatemala in a more conservative direction, similar to Bukele in El Salvador, Milei in Argentina, or El Tigre in Colombia. One such example is Carlos Pineda, the businessman and outsider who captivated the imagination of the Guatemalan people only to be tossed off the ballot in the 2023 presidential election and then denied a U.S. visa due to a vicious and baseless whisper campaign meant to impugn his reputation.

The political class in Guatemala is dirtier than ever as narco violence reaches epidemic levels under the Arevalo regime. Still, he puts on a mask and attempts to portray himself as a friend to the Trump administration who is marching in lockstep on key initiatives when nothing could be further from the truth. 

These are Arevalo’s Guatemalan swamp files:

Amílcar Aleksander Castillo Roca

Amílcar Aleksander Castillo Roca (also referred to as Alexander Castillo) is a Guatemalan former legislator primarily associated with the Partido Patriota (PP), the party of former President Otto Pérez Molina and Vice President Roxana Baldetti, both who were later imprisoned on major corruption charges. He served as a deputy and as First Secretary of the Junta Directiva of Congress during the 2014–2015 period under President Arístides Crespo.

His most significant documented involvement is the “Plazas Fantasma” (phantom jobs) case investigated by the Fiscalía Especial Contra la Impunidad (FECI) and the now-defunct CICIG. Investigators found that during his time on the Junta Directiva, Castillo and others authorized irregular hiring of personnel, putting advisors and temporary staff illicitly on the dole.

In March 2017, a judge linked him along with several of his deputies and former deputies for abuse of authority and embezzlement by extraction. He was initially detained and later placed under house arrest over the charges. This ultimately prevented him from returning to Congress. After years of behind-the-scenes maneuvering, Castillo was able to get the case dismissed before it could go to trial.

Jorge Arturo Reyes Ceballos (“El Canche Reyes”)

Jorge Arturo Reyes Ceballos, widely known as “El Canche Reyes,” has been the continuous mayor of Cuyotenango, Suchitepéquez, since approximately 2000 (first elected for the 2000–2004 term). This career politician has held the office across multiple fronts and is one of the longest-serving municipal executives in the country. His longevity is due to controlling distribution lines of key goods (especially eggs) and local political machine control.

Investigative outlets have documented extensive egg purchases for distribution to low-income residents and the elderly—keeping the population dependent. From at least 2015 onward, the municipality spent millions of quetzales on eggs via low-value contracts that avoided competitive bidding. Several audits have flagged irregularities, such as a Q968,000 rural road contract lacking proper publication, supervision reports, and liquidation acts.

El Canche Reyes has been dogged with credible allegations of corruption, abuse of authority, and narco ties. Allegations of narco connections come through his previous connection with the UCN party. UCN leader Mario Estrada was extradited to the U.S. and later convicted on drug charges for his actions aiding and abetting the Sinaloa Cartel’s drug-trafficking activities.

Jorge Estuardo Vargas Morales

Jorge Estuardo Vargas Morales served as a municipal councilor in Puerto Barrios, Izabal, and held senior roles at the prestigious Empresa Portuaria Nacional Santo Tomás de Castilla. He entered Congress in 2016 with the Partido de Avanzada Nacional and was reelected in 2020 with the UNE. He has been identified as a key UNE figure close to Sandra Torres’s circle.

In July 2021 he was added to the US Engel List (Section 353) of corrupt and undemocratic actors for significant corrupt acts, including bribery, coercion, and influence peddling that undermined democratic processes. In December 2022 the US Treasury’s OFAC designated him under the Global Magnitsky sanctions program (Executive Order 13818).

The designation describes him as one of several individuals at the apex of a network designed to control contracts and operations at government-run ports for personal profit. Morales’ control of the ports have allegedly allowed him to facilitate the illicit narco trade. His ambitions have included continued legislative influence and regional parliamentary office.

Nery Abilio Ramos y Ramos

Nery Abilio Ramos y Ramos is a former police officer who rose to become Director of the Policía Nacional Civil (PNC) before entering elective politics. He was elected to Congress for Jutiapa in 2023 with the Partido Azul. After the Constitutional Court blocked Semilla members from congressional leadership positions and annulled the initial election of Samuel Pérez, Ramos was elected President of Congress in January 2024 with 115 votes and no opposition. His candidacy received decisive support from Arévalo-aligned forces.

Ramos served as Congress president through early 2026 and then became First Vice President under Luis Alberto Contreras Colindres. He later helped form the party Firmes (previously associated with a “Revolución” branding). He is widely viewed as a potential 2027 presidential contender within that vehicle. He is closely linked to a criminal network associated with drug trafficking that operates from the Honduran border to Mexico. Along with his brother Osbin Ramos. Exploiting his reach within the PNC, they take advantage of limited police coverage to transport narcotics with a lower risk of interception. He reportedly conspired with drug lords to crackdown against journalism exposing their illicit connections.

Jairo Danilo Orellana Sandoval

Jairo Danilo Orellana Sandoval, known publicly as “Pollo,” is a congressman representing Jalapa for the 2024–2028 term. He has chaired the Comisión de la Defensa Nacional. In that role he has overseen work on infrastructure-protection bills, military pension reforms (IPM), and related legislative initiatives.

He has been linked directly to congressman Luis Fernando Aguirre Estrada, “La Yegua”, an leader of an illicit drug trafficking structure. In 2023, his father-in-law, Milton Guerra, was violently murdered by an armed hit squad. Other family members have also been the target of attacks with the prevailing wisdom being that these hits were ordered by rival drug gangs.

Carlos Roberto Marroquín Fuentes

Carlos Roberto Marroquín Fuentes has been mayor of Moyuta, Jutiapa, since 2012. He was first elected with UCN, the party led by convicted drug criminal Mario Estrada. He is the brother of Jorge Marroquín Fuentes, who was captured in El Salvador in 2017 while transporting approximately 840 kg of cocaine (valued at over $21 million) and later sentenced to 15 years in prison.

In January 2026, video circulated of Marroquín publicly threatening PNC and Ministry of the Interior personnel, warning that if patrols or investigators came too close he would “sneeze a couple of rifles” at them. He was accused by Marixa Ethelinda Lemus Pérez, known as “La Patrona”, of the murder of her sister, Mayra Verónica Lemus Pérez, when they were competing for the mayor’s office in the 2011 general elections. According to La Patrona, Marroquín’s ultimate goal is to control the territory in order to move cocaine shipments that he collects from the beaches of Moyuta and transports to Mexico.

Luis Alberto Contreras Colindres

Luis Alberto Contreras Colindres has been a San Marcos deputy continuously since 2004. In November 2025 he was elected President of Congress for 2026–2027 with 149 votes, succeeding Nery Ramos (who became First Vice President). The election received support from a broad range of blocs, including forces aligned with the Arévalo administration.

In August 2026, independent journalists publicly alleged that Contreras, together with Roberto Arzú García-Granados, was involved in planning an attack on the journalist and his team, with participation of narcotics figures and meetings at various properties to hatch the illicit plot. He has been accused of providing political control for the operations of drug-trafficking criminal structures operating out of San Marcos known as “Los Pochos”.

Jorge Rolando Pérez Domingo

Jorge Rolando Pérez Domingo is the mayor of San Miguel Ixtahuacán. In early 2025 the Ministerio Público requested the revocation of his governmental immunity in connection with an operation against a migrant-smuggling network known as “Genoveva.” The network actively recruited migrants in Guatemala and other countries, charging substantial fees for their journey north before it was busted up last year.

The request cites alleged participation in events involving instigation to commit crime, membership in illegal groups, aggravated robbery, kidnapping or plagiarism, and assault, during which investigators were reportedly detained and attacked. He allegedly helped to funnel migrants to a hotel and restaurant before providing them with illegal transit toward Mexico and the United States.

Jorge Antonio Orellana Pinto (“El Congo”)

Jorge Antonio Orellana Pinto, known as “El Congo,” is the former mayor of Guastatoya, El Progreso. He was first elected in 2015 and is reportedly eyeing a congressional candidacy in the future. In 2023 a close associate and municipal candidate, Byron Orellana Véliz (“Nito”), was arrested for extradition to the United States on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine with the operations alleged as occurring between 2005 and 2021 as a receiver of Colombian shipments. Nito appeared on the same slate that ran El Congo for Mayor.

Francisco Morales Guerra

Francisco Morales Guerra is the mayor of Dolores, Petén. In February 2026 his three brothers—Carlos Obeniel (Ottoniel Obediel), Ronald Alexys, and Héctor Rubén Morales Guerra—were captured in Petén. All three were extradited by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on charges of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine with the intent that it be imported into the United States (alleged operations spanning South, Central, and North America from 2006 to at least 2024).

Thus far, Guerra has not been charged as being part of the family business. In February 2026, Marvin Rolando Cruz, former mayor of Dolores, Petén, was murdered. Perhaps this is a sign that those who know too much about the Guerra brothers’ cocaine cartel are being eliminated before they can talk to federal authorities.

Luis Fernando Aguirre Estrada

Luis Fernando Aguirre Estrada is a national-list deputy and, since November 2025, Secretary General of the Cabal party. He has served as chief of the Cabal bancada—their legislative unit—and has been a central organizer of his party’s territorial structure and 2027 positioning. Estrada gained infamy for his closeness to José Manuel López Morales, alias “Che Manuel”, who was sentenced in the U.S. to 11 years in prison for drug trafficking. Aguirre presented an award to Che Manuel in Congress in 2024. Che Manuel was the link in Chiquimula between the Honduran Valle cartel and Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel. Estrada was also an alleged participant in meetings along with Aguirre, Nery Ramos, César Fión, Luis Contreras, and others where violent retribution against journalists reporting on narcoterrorism was discussed.

Roberto Arzú García-Granados

Roberto Arzú García-Granados is a former presidential candidate in 2023 and the son of former President Álvaro Arzú. He briefly joined the Cabal party in late 2025 as Secretary of Political Formation under Luis Aguirre before departing amid internal purges. Audio recordings leaked to the media revealed the closeness and ties between Arzú and Francisco Edgar Domínguez Higueros, alias “Paco”, leader of Los Caradura, a gang dedicated to street-level drug dealing and kidnapping in Guatemala City and surrounding departments.

According to leaked documents, “Paco” granted Roberto Arzú a loan of $700,000 and four million quetzales (Q4,000,000.00). Additional documents link Roberto Arzú to Marllory Dadiana Chacón Rossell, alias “La Reina del Sur”, sentenced in the United States for laundering money for Mexican cartels, who according to the documents allegedly gave Arzú, through her operator Rodrigo José Lainfiesta Rimola, the sum of one million dollars.

Esduín Jerson Javier Javier (“Tres Kiebres”)

Esduín Jerson Javier Javier, known as “Tres Kiebres,” is the former mayor of Ipala, Chiquimula. InSight Crime’s 2017 investigation documented long-standing associations with figures later identified as major narco traffickers (including Merlin Yovani España) and placed him as a key figure in narco trafficking on the eastern side of Guatemala. In 2021 the Ministerio Público sought to lift his immunity in the “Narcotráfico Municipal” case, linking him to a structure tied to the January 2020 triple murder that followed a boxing match with Mixco mayor Neto Bran, and to the seizure of more than $800,000.

Additionally, in 2014, the Public Prosecutor’s Office’s Anti- Narcotics Prosecution Unit linked Tres Kiebres to the structure of Juancho León, local drug-trafficking cartel operated by Byron Berganza Espina. Berganza, a native of Ipala who is linked to the so-called Ipala cartel, was captured in El Salvador in 2003 by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and sentenced in 2008 to 22 years in prison for drug trafficking.

Sandra Carolina Orellana Cruz

Sandra Carolina Orellana Cruz is a Zacapa deputy who has served as Second Vice President of Congress and chaired the Women’s Commission. In April 2025 her motorcade was attacked while returning from an event in La Unión although she was unharmed. She represents the ECN Party founded by convicted drug criminal Mario Estrada.

Investigative reporting has documented her controversial use of a 2024 Lexus LX600 (market value over Q1.1 million) registered to Francisco Benjamín Cardona Díaz of Construfrank, a firm that has received approximately Q129 million in municipal contracts with the owner being the son of the mayor of San Pedro Soloma. This blatant conflict-of-interest shows exactly how Orellana does business.

Winter Coc

Winter Coc is the former mayor of San Pedro Carchá, Alta Verapaz. After leaving office Coc has reinvented himself as a social-media influencer, fertilizer seller, and occasional actor. Reporting has noted a non-transparent contracting process throughout his administration (including a road project that was later audited) and frequent distributions to cronies (cuts of cloth, fertilizer), including allegedly exploiting church services to give government handouts to buy votes.

Local media sources link Coc to Cristhian Estuardo Vaidés Fión, alias “El Tuerto”, charged by U.S. authorities with trafficking more than five tons of cocaine per month into that country. Vaidés Fión was in charge of coordinating the transport of cocaine, which was packaged in Colombia and then brought into Panama and on through Central America and Mexico, bound for the United States.

Sandra Julieta Torres Casanova

Sandra Julieta Torres Casanova is the long-time leader of the Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE), three-time presidential candidate (2015, 2019, 2023), and former first lady. She remains the dominant figure in one of Guatemala’s largest opposition machines. UNE has been repeatedly linked in investigative reporting and US assessments to clientelist networks, municipal machines, and, in some territorial cases, organized-crime exposure. She is the aunt of María Martha Castañeda Torres, partner El Lobo, who was identified as one of the ten top leaders of the “Barrio 18” gang and sentenced to more than 80 years in prison for various Narco-related crimes.

Sofía Jeanetth Hernández Herrera

Sofía Jeanetth Hernández Herrera is a Congresswoman who served under the UCN Party, founded by narco Mario Estrada. She is the aunt of Augusto Jean Carlo Castillo Hernández, who was found guilty in a court in the Southern District of California of conspiring to participate in coordinating the distribution of at least 2,000 kilograms of cocaine — more than two tons — which crossed the border into Mexico and ended up in the United States.

Vivian Beatriz Preciado Navarijo

Vivian Beatriz Preciado Navarijo is a Congresswoman who was elected and reelected with the UCN. In 2010 she was detained in connection with allegations of obstructing justice by assisting Víctor Hugo Soto Diéguez (a figure in the Pavón case) to flee but the case did not result in a final conviction that barred her political career. She is the sister of Carlos Danilo Preciado Navarijo, who was arrested by Interpol in Panama in an extradition proceeding requested by the United States for drug-trafficking-related offenses. She is also the niece of La Tía, who was arrested in 2011 and later sentenced in the United States to 30 years in prison for drug trafficking.

Edilma Elizabeth Navarijo de León

Edilma Elizabeth Navarijo de León is the long-serving mayor of La Blanca, San Marcos (previously mayor of Ocós for multiple terms). She and her daughter Vivian have maintained dual municipal-congressional control in the coastal border zone with Mexico, a strategic location for drug trafficking, with her family maintaining control over the region for two decades. She is the mother of Carlos Danilo Preciado Navarijo, former mayor of Ocós, San Marcos, who was arrested by Interpol in Panama in an extradition proceeding requested by the United States for drug-trafficking- related offenses.

Andi Natanael Pacheco Vásquez

Andi Natanael Pacheco Vásquez is the current mayor of the municipality of Usumatlán, department of Zacapa. He is currently linked to Nery Ramos’s FIRMES political organization, and is also linked to Haroldo Waldemar Lorenzana Terraza, alias “Haroldito”, who is wanted by a District of Columbia court for being identified as a leader within a drug-trafficking criminal organization, along with his parents, uncles and grandfather, some of whom have already been extradited to the United States. U.S. authorities are currently offering a reward of 38.5 million quetzales for information leading to the whereabouts of Vasquez’s associate, Haroldito.

These are the individuals who constitute the deep narco state in Guatemalan politics that needs to be brought to justice. Due to his weakness and/or complicity, President Arevalo and his allies have proven severely ill-equipped for the job. They are taking aim at populist outsiders with the potential to produce lasting change in Guatemala while ignoring the corrupt narco-affiliated elements running wild throughout the country. The Arevalo regime is doing this in a desperate attempt to keep their grip on power and maintain the status quo in Guatemala just long enough to hopefully outlast the Trump administration. This cannot be allowed to occur for the Donroe Doctrine to be successful in eradicating communism throughout the hemisphere.