Politics
Newt Gingrich Suggests Surprising VP Pick For Trump
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich knows a thing or two about crafting a winning Republican message. His “Contract with America” propelled Republicans to control of the House for the first time in over 40 years. Now, the politician-turned-Trump advisor is urging the former president to make a similar populist move by picking one of the House’s newest Republican stars as his running mate.
If President Donald Trump wants to win another term in the White House, he would do well to consider Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) for his ticket, Gingrich told reporters after delivering remarks at the Richard Nixon Foundation. The New York Republican made tectonic waves with her pushback on university professors at Harvard, MIT, and UPenn who gave lawyerly, cautious answers in response to rising antisemitism on campus.
“I’m a very big fan of Elise’s. Certainly, if there is a short list for vice president, she should be on it,” Gingrich said.
“I absolutely believe that she has sort of fought her way onto the national stage and I hope that she will continue to grow and develop and certainly my advice to the president would certainly be to consider her on whatever short list he develops for potential vice presidential nominees,” he added.
Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday, Rep. Stefanik said she would be “honored” to join the 45th president’s ticket.
The Harvard-educated Republican has an orbital appeal in many areas where President Trump needs to succeed among the electorate next year. Stefanik was only 30 years old when she won her first term in 2014. She is a young mother who appeals to suburban women in a district that President Joe Biden won nearly two-to-one in 2020.
Last month, Rep. Stefanik produced made-for-TV moments with her interrogations of Harvard President Claudine Gay and UPenn President Elizabeth Magill, both of whom resigned after weeks of pressure on multiple fronts after they gave shifting answers about whether calls for the eradication of the Jewish people would violate their codes of conduct among students. The moments would not have happened unless Stefanik kept up the pressure, ensuring both witnesses had ample opportunities to reconsider their statements before doubling down with answers that left students, donors, and faculty furious about the double standard afforded to Palestinian supporters who veered into open antisemitism.
The resignation of Gay, who left her post amid a probe of plagiarism in her academic record, prompted Rep. Stefanik to promise she would not rest until all three presidents were ousted.
“TWO DOWN,” she wrote on X at the time.