Some people are blaming Stefanik herself for not stepping in earlier, with one of the two sources telling Fox News Digital, “Elise has been saying [they] need to wait for Trump, and it’s allowed the process to grow out of control.”
But that source also said they “don’t think it’s fair” to fully blame Stefanik, arguing that it was a failure of Republican Party leaders in general for letting the divisions “fester.”
“Nature abhors a vacuum. And you have 15 different county chairs, basically like three different regions of the state, pushing their own person. It’s a really messy, ugly process,” the source said. “When you have a party leader making a decision versus a primary where you can run a race – it’s the kind of thing you have to wrap up quickly.”
That person also pointed out Stefanik was “one of the first ones ready to go” as an early favorite for the Trump administration, and questioned whether she would be having the same issues had she resigned from Congress on Jan. 20 instead of being a “loyalist” to the GOP and staying for her vote.
The second source, however, said of the situation in New York’s 21st Congressional District, “She let that happen.”
The second source said Stefanik “didn’t want to lean in on someone,” which resulted in no one having “a clear understanding of what the process is and who has a lane.”
Both sources pointed to concerns about a conservative candidate who is threatening to run in a third-party lane if he fails to win the Republican primary.
Meanwhile, the candidate who was endorsed by the New York Conservative Party “never supported Trump,” the first source said.
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