MAKING IT RAIN

Elise Stefanik Breaks Fundraising Record After College Antisemitism Hearing

She hailed the gifts as helping in her work to “save America.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the lawmaker who used a congressional hearing last month to tear into college presidents over antisemitism on campuses, announced Tuesday that her campaign has just recorded its best quarter of fundraising.

Stefanik said she’d raised over $5.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 with an average donation of $25. Some 35,000 first-time donors contributed to the haul, which takes the House Republican conference chair’s overall fundraising to more than $13 million for the 2024 election cycle.

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“It is clear the American people are looking for leadership and results, and I am committed to delivering both,” Stefanik said in a statement. “This is a great start to 2024 as we work to elect President Trump, grow the House Republican Majority, and save America.”

The New York Post, which first reported the news, said Stefanik received donations from high-profile Republican fundraisers including Blackstone Group CEO Steve Schwarzman and Wayne Berman, the former lobbyist and current head of Blackstone’s government relations.

Stefanik has drawn significant national attention since a combative hearing last month in which she grilled the leaders of several universities over their handling of antisemitism, with the officials’ answers to her questions provoking anger for their perceived evasiveness. Liz Magill resigned as the University of Pennsylvania president amid the backlash to her testimony. Claudine Gay stepped down as president of Harvard University earlier this month after facing a blizzard of plagiarism allegations that emerged in the wake of the hearing.

For her own part, Stefanik has used the spotlight to burnish her MAGA credentials ahead of the 2024 election, recently playing down her former condemnation of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot to bemoan the plight of the “January 6 hostages,” referring to people serving jail time for their part in the attack.

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