By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
Cattaraugus County Republican Party Chairman Mark Heberling said Tuesday he was surprised by Elise Stefanik’s withdrawal last week from the New York governor’s race.
“I was surprised,” Heberling told the Olean Star in a telephone interview. It was unexpected. I had just endorsed her a few days after the election.”
Most county chairs and many Republican state lawmakers and Rep. Nick Langworthy had endorsed Stefanik’s candidacy to run against Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul next year, Heberling observed.
What surprised Heberling more than Stefanik taking herself out of the gubernatorial race where she was considered the frontrunner, was her announcement that she would not seek re-election to her North Country seat in Congress next year.
“She has a very impressive resume,” Heberling said. “I’m sure we’ll see more of her.”
Stefanik said she plans to spend more time with her family, including a young son.
Many people saw Stefanik scorned by President Trump a third time with his recent refusal to endorse the Republican congresswoman over Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.
Earlier this year, Trump withdrew his nomination of Stefanik to be U.N. ambassador because of the razor-thin Republican margin in the House. Then after New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani met with Trump in the Oval Office, the president declared he was not a Jihadist as Stefanik was proclaiming in her campaign for governor.
Apparently, that was the last straw. Stefanik felt she had been undercut by the president again. She announced on Friday she was out of the governor’s race and wouldn’t seek re-election in November 2026.
On Saturday, Trump announced he was endorsing Blakeman for governor.
Stefanik was the second high-profile Republican woman to announce recently that she would not seek re-election, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green announced Nov. 21 that she would step down from Congress on Jan. 5, almost a year before the end of her two-year term.
Taylor-Green blamed Trump, who had called her disloyal over her call to release the Jeffery Epstein files. Taylor was one of several House Republicans to sign a discharge petition to bring the issue to the floor.
Heberling said he had met Stefanik at several campaign events across the state and had been impressed by her. Some polls showed her ahead of Hochul in a match-up for governor, while others showed her within striking distance of the governor.
Three years ago Republican Lee Zeldin, who was then in Congress, used the crime issue to put on a strong campaign against Hochul. Zeldin is now administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Heberling said Blakeman called him around Thanksgiving asking him “to keep an open mind” on the GOP campaign for governor.
Heberling noted that the president has not endorsed either Republican until after Stefanik exited from the race. “He was friends with both of them,” he said of Trump. “Who do you endorse?”
“He’s an excellent candidate,” Heberling said of Blakeman. “They both are.” Blakeman, he said, “runs one of the wealthiest counties in the country.”
State Republican Chairman Ed Vox released a statement over the weekend praising Stefanik, who he said would “remain a leader in our party and a powerful voice for our principles,” while endorsing Blakeman and urging other party leaders to follow suit.
Last week, before Stefanik announced her exit from the Republican race for governor, party leaders were saying the party couldn’t afford a primary next year.
Stefanik saw the handwriting on the wall. It was Trump’s signature.
Heberling isn’t sure if Stefanik’s exit will bring out any other Republican candidates now that Trump has endorsed Blakeman.
The last Republican to hold statewide office was former Gov. George Pataki, who left office in 2006.
