EXCLUSIVE: House Republican Caucus Chair Elise Stefanik rolled out her first round of EPAC endorsements to elect more Republican women to Congress in elections, telling Fox News that the group is “the most impressive and diverse group of rising stars we’ve ever seen” and predicting that the GOP women “will be majority makers.”
Stefanik, R-N.Y., endorsed eight women who have mounted congressional bids, and issued a list of nearly a dozen “women to watch” — women she feels are strong candidates and would consider endorsing later in the cycle.
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Stefanik, on Wednesday, endorsed Karoline Leavitt for the 1st Congressional District in New Hampshire. Leavitt previously served as Stefanik’s spokeswoman and as an assistant press secretary to former President Trump.
Karoline Leavitt, who worked in White House during former President Trump’s administration, is running for the Republican nomination in New Hampshire’s First Congressional District.
(Karoline Leavitt congressional campaign)
Stefanik also endorsed Esther Joy King for Illinois’ 17th Congressional District, a veteran who served in Afghanistan as an aid worker and a member of the Judge Advocate General Corps in the U.S. Army Reserve. She is now a lawyer focusing on economic development and real estate.
Stefanik endorsed Amanda Adkins for Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District; who has worked as an executive at a global Kansas City-based health care and information technology company, after previously serving as the chairwoman of the Kansas Republican Party.
She also offered her endorsement to April Becker, a small business owner and lawyer for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District; Lisa Scheller, a small business owner, for Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District; Monica De La Cruz, a small business owner, for Texas’ 15th Congressional District; and Jeanine Lawson, the vice-chair of the Virginia Railway Express Operations Board and chair of the Innovation Owner’s Association Board of Directors, for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District.
Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., speaks with reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Stefanik also endorsed Jen Kiggans, a Virginia state senator, nurse practitioner and a former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot for Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District.
“I am thrilled to announce E-PAC’s first round of endorsements of the 2022 election cycle,” Stefanik told Fox News. ” As small business owners, mothers, veterans, and health care leaders, these women make up the most impressive and diverse group of rising stars we’ve ever seen.”
As for the “women to watch,” Stefanik threw her support behind Tanya Wheeless for Arizona’s 9th Congressional District; Tamika Hamilton for California’s 3rd; Meagan Hanson for Georgia’s 6th; Anna Paulina Luna for Florida’s 13th; Amanda Makki for Florida’s 13th; Nicole Hasso for Iowa’s 3rd; Jennifer-Ruth Green for Indiana’s 1st; Carolina Serrano for Nevada’s 4th; Liz Joy for New York’s 20th; Lori Chavez-DeRemer for Oregon’s 5th and Taylor Keeney for Virginia’s 7th.
“I look forward to supporting these women across the finish line in both their primaries and general elections,” Stefanik told Fox News. “Make no mistake, GOP women will be the first ones through the breach to fire Nancy Pelosi once and for all.”
Stefanik founded E-PAC to “recruit, engage, empower, elevate and elect more GOP women to office.”
“E-PAC’s endorsed candidates are determined to build on the historic success of last cycle, when we more than doubled the Republican women elected to Congress,” Stefanik said. “In 2020, GOP women were history makers, and in 2022, GOP women will be majority makers.”
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More Republican women than ever before joined the 117th U.S. congress”>Congress<.
Stefanik’s office told Fox News that 11 out of the 15 seats that flipped red in 2020 were won by E-PAC-endorsed Republican women.
Since its founding, E-PAC has raised and donated more than $3 million for GOP women candidates.
At this point, a record number of 189 Republican women have filed to run for the 2022 election cycle.
