Elise Stefanik Withdraws Endorsement Of GOP Candidate Who Mildly Criticized Trump

LOADING ERROR LOADING A top Republican has just taken away her endorsement from a House candidate because he said something about Donald Trump that wasn’t praise. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R N.Y.), the House’s third ranking Republican, announced Thursday on social media that she had withdrawn her endorsement of Craig Riedel, a GOP former state representative running for Congress from Ohio.

Advertisement “I was very disappointed in his inappropriate comments regarding President Trump,” Stefanik said. “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.” Riedel’s crime? He said he wouldn’t endorse Trump and suggested his habit of insulting people is not presidential.

“I think he is arrogant. I don’t like the way he calls people names. I just don’t think that’s very becoming of a president,” Riedel said in an audio recording posted by right wing activist Charlie Kirk last month . Stefanik’s un endorsement is the latest signal of the Republican Party ’s complete and total loyalty to Donald Trump, even as he faces a slew of criminal indictments , including for his efforts to steal the 2020 election and incite the Jan.

6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. Advertisement Within an hour of the recording going online, Riedel announced he would, in fact, endorse Trump and claimed that a “trickster” aligned with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R Fla.) had goaded him into making anti Trump statements. But the damage had been done. Rep. Max Miller (R Ohio) immediately rescinded his Riedel endorsement, and days later Sen.

J.D. Vance (R Ohio) announced he would support Riedel’s opponent in the Republican primary, J.R. Majewski. Some Republicans had previously hoped Riedel would beat Majewski in the GOP primary because Riedel would likely be a stronger candidate in the general election. Majewski failed to unseat Rep.

Marcy Kaptur (D Ohio) after it came out that Majewski had lied about his military service . Majewski suggested this week that Riedel was the bigger fraud, saying on social media that Riedel had “presented himself as a Trump supporter and accepted hundred of thousands in campaign cash knowing he was a closet never Trumper.” Stefanik, for her part, has criticized Trump in harsher terms than Riedel used.

For instance, Stefanik said, “I think he has been insulting to women” in 2015, according to CNN . Advertisement Support HuffPost The Stakes Have Never Been Higher At HuffPost, we believe that everyone needs high quality journalism, but we understand that not everyone can afford to pay for expensive news subscriptions.

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