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After a decade of serving her massive New York district in the U.S. House of Representatives, it appears Rep. Elise Stefanik will stay in the chamber for at least another year.

That's after President Donald Trump pulled the North Country congresswoman's nomination to become the next ambassador to the United Nations last week, citing the GOP slim majority in the House.

Stefanik had become the third-highest ranking Republican in the chamber and one of the president's biggest defenders before Trump tapped her for the U.N. post in November.

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý's Mary Williams Engisch sat down with North Country Public Radio's Emily Russell to learn more. This interview was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We’ve also provided a transcript, which has been edited for length and clarity.

Mary Williams Engisch: Why was Stefanik nominated for U.N. ambassador in the first place?

Emily Russell: So, Stefanik started out her career as a slight critic of Trump, but that really changed over the years. During his first term, she became a very fierce ally of his. At one point, I think it was after his first impeachment trial, he described her as a rising star in the Republican Party. And he, I think, rewards people that are loyal to him, and I think she proved that during his first term in office. I think that's partly why she was nominated to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. She was pretty critical of the U.N., and I think kind of fell in line with Donald Trump's vision for the United States' relationship with the U.N.

And then, as you say, Trump pulled that back last Thursday and said she was going to return to the House.

North Country Public Radio

Mary Williams Engisch: And given Republican's slim majority over Democrats, how important is her vote in the House right now?

Emily Russell: That was really notable. He mentioned that slim majority as the reason for pulling her nomination when he announced that last Thursday. He said, quote, "I don't want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise's seat."

There would have been a special election here in New York's 21st Congressional District had she been confirmed as U.N. ambassador. The North Country has long been a pretty conservative area. She regularly wins reelection by anywhere from 20 to 35 points. So, she's she's got a lock on this district, and she's very powerful. She's risen up in the ranks in Congress.

But, I think it was kind of clear that her seat was not for sure, if Republicans ran against a Democratic candidate. And there's just a really slim majority in Congress. There are two House seats up for grabs in Florida, special elections are happening on Tuesday. So, if by small margin, the North Country went Democrat, that would have really tightened the margin for Republicans overall to even a slimmer majority.

Mary Williams Engisch: In terms of timing of this � the Senate scheduled to vote on Stefanik nomination this week, both parties were also prepping like a special election to replace her, and North Country Public Radio reporting Stefanik's even been holding some farewell events in her district recently. Was this news a surprise in the political world?

Emily Russell: I think it was shocking. And I think it was shocking for everybody, including Stefanik. That's just speculation, but she said on Fox News the night that the news was announced last Thursday, she said she kind of found out that day that her nomination was being pulled.

As you say, like, her confirmation hearing was set to happen this week, so she was really gearing up for that. She had had a farewell tour around the North Country. She had been posting retrospectives, photos on social media of her time in Congress, really getting ready to move on. And so I think the news coming out last Thursday was, was a shocker to really everybody involved in this process, and many folks here in the North Country.

Mary Williams Engisch: Stepping back just a bit, Stefanik came into politics as a moderate Republican, and like we've mentioned, went from criticizing Trump to now aligning herself with the administration in a big way. Can you share a little more on the role that she's carved out for herself in Congress in the past couple of years ?

Emily Russell: She's really risen in the ranks � both literally, she's had a leadership position as conference chair for Republicans in recent years. And then she's just been a pretty outspoken critic of the Democrats and of Joe Biden when he was in office. She has increasingly done interviews on national news outlets like Fox News.

She's had moments over her career, in recent years, where she really has gotten into the spotlight � the first time, in defense of Trump during his impeachment trials, but then more recently, addressing antisemitism on college campuses. She was really leading those questionings of college presidents like from Columbia and Harvard, and that really put her in the national spotlight even more.

So she's an incredibly smart politician and smart person, and she's really built this career from the ground up and become one of the most powerful members of Congress.

Mary Williams Engisch: And one last question for you, Emily � before Stefanik was nominated for ambassador, she served as conference chair, the third most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives, and she's since been replaced in that role. The U.N. now off the table, what's next for Stefanik in the House, as she represents North Country constituents?

Emily Russell: It's notable in Trump's statement � when he pulled back her nomination, he said, quote, "I look forward to the day when Elise is able to join my administration in the future," and Stefanik herself has said she is obviously open to that. So I don't think that's out of the question that something else could open up in the next four years.

But, for now, she's obviously staying in the House. This is a very safe seat for her. She won reelection to her sixth term back in November by 24 percentage points. We've been talking to voters here just in recent days about how they feel about her nomination being pulled. And, you know, the Republicans we're talking to and even some Democrats say they're glad that she's staying in the House, because she is known to deliver results here to the North Country � you know, millions of dollars for fire departments and various other things. It does� I think constituents here do believe that her power in Congress does pay back dividends to folks here in the North Country.