New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik announced the first round of Elevate-PAC endorsements this morning online and at a press conference.

Elevate-PAC, or E-PAC for short, was started by the Congresswoman to support Republican women running for Congress. Stefanik noticed a severe shortage of Republican women in specifically the House of Representatives during and after the 2018 midterm elections. 

As the first female chair of the NRCC, Stefanik saw first-hand how to recruit candidates, and she wanted to take it upon herself to support more conservative women in primary elections. After leaving the NRCC, E-PAC became her main focus outside of her congressional duties. 

Most recently, in a North Carolinian special run-off election, E-PAC endorsed Dr. Joan Perry, who ultimately lost to her race to fellow Republican Dr. Greg Murphy. While this was discouraging, E-PAC is continuing to push forward and support Republican women ahead of the 2020 primaries to ensure that Republican women win the party nomination. 

Ahead of the 2020 elections, E-PAC has endorsed eleven candidates so far. The organization has focused exclusively on House candidates for this announcement and has not officially weighed in on any Senate races. 

There will be additional endorsements in 2020, likely after the primary elections in May. For now, the following House candidates have been endorsed:

  • TX-32: Genevieve Collins

  • FL-27: Maria Elvira Salazar

  • IA-01: Ashley Hinson

  • CA-48: Michelle Steel

  • CA-39: Young Kim

  • GA-06: Karen Handel

  • NY-11: Nicole Malliotakis

  • NY-18: Chele Farley

  • TX-24: Beth Van Duyne

  • SC-01: Nancy Mace

  • FL-13: Amanda Makki

There are a couple of familiar names on this list. Former state legislator Young Kim ran for her congressional seat in 2018, but ultimately lost to her Democratic opponent. Former Congresswoman Karen Handel, who won a special election against Democrat Jon Ossoff in 2017, lost her reelection bid in 2018.

These “Rising Star” candidates have been supported by E-PAC throughout their campaigns thus far, so Stefanik has relationships with each candidate. In order to be endorsed, a candidate must have raised at least $250,000 in the first three months of her campaign, formed a solid campaign team, and proved a chance of victory.

After announcing her endorsements, Stefanik released a Twitter thread to talk more about the women her organization endorsed.

In addition to these eleven endorsements, E-PAC released a list of “Women to Watch” in the 2020 primary elections. The campaigns span across 12 different states, and the competitiveness of each race varies. These women have not officially been endorsed by E-PAC and a few are even running in the same district.

  • AZ-01: Tiffany Shedd

  • CA-45: Lisa Sparks

  • FL-26: Irina Vilariño

  • GA-07: Lynne Homrich

  • GA-07: Renee Unterman

  • IL-14: Catalina Lauf

  • IL-14: Sue Rezin

  • IL-17: Esther Joy King

  • KS-03: Sara Hart Weir

  • KS-03: Amanda Adkins

  • MN-07: Michelle Fischbach

  • NJ-07: Rosemary Becchi

  • NM-02: Claire Chase

  • NM-02: Yvette Herrell

  • PA-07: Lisa Scheller

  • OK-05: Stephanie Bice

  • OK-05: Terry Neese

  • UT-04: Kathleen Anderson

E-PAC will continue to announce additional endorsements and add to the “Women to Watch” list as the 2020 campaign season continues to progress.

Karly M.

CABINET MEMBER

Karly Matthews is a student at Temple University, where she is majoring in political science and journalism while minoring in Spanish. At any given moment, Karly can be found talking about Marco Rubio and advocating for conservative values with a large coffee mug and color-coded planner in hand.

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