New York Democratic lawmakers are working to keep Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik’s House seat vacant until the summer in an unprecedented move hashed out during late-night discussions last week, a Republican Empire State assemblyman told Fox Digital.
“We still haven’t seen the final proposal from the Democrats in Albany, but there’s no doubt that Tammany Hall corruption is alive and well in the state capital,” Republican New York Assemblyman Matt Slater, who represents the state’s 94th district in areas of Putnam and Westchester counties, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive Zoom interview on Sunday morning.
“It is just blatantly corrupt for the New York State Democrats to keep changing the rules of engagement simply out of self-interest. Meanwhile, New Yorkers are struggling in so many different ways. U-Haul just gave us our worst migration rating ever because there’s so many New Yorkers who are fleeing this state. So they can get things done, but they only do it when it benefits them,” Slater continued.
Slater, who serves as the ranking Republican on the state’s Election Law Committee, was reacting to state Democrats working to introduce legislation that could keep Stefanik’s House seat vacant until June, when the state holds its scheduled primary elections. Stefanik is in the midst of her confirmation process to serve in the Trump administration and is expected to resign her House seat if the Senate confirms her as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
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Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., the nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, arrives for her Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on Jan. 21, 2025. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Under current law, New York’s governor has 10 days to declare a special election for a vacant seat and an additional 80 to 90 days to hold the election. Stefanik’s seat is key for the Republican Party and Trump’s second administration, as Republicans hold a slim majority at 218 members to the Democrats’ 215 members.
The state Democrats’ anticipated legislation has not yet been introduced, but Democrats were summoned to an emergency conference on Friday evening to reportedly discuss such a bill, Slater explained. He expects to have a copy of the Democrats’ bill on Monday morning.
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Slater said the Democrats’ objective of changing election laws to move the special election back to the summer is part of their bigger agenda to combat the second Trump administration.
“Speaker Johnson has the hardest job in government right now, trying to keep the Republican conference, caucus together. This obviously would make that margin of Republican control that much more thin and that much more challenging for the speaker and, again, jeopardizing President Trump’s agenda to get through Congress. That’s their entire mission and goal, the Albany Democrats, is to make sure that they’re combating President Trump each step of the way. And this is their latest way of doing it,” Slater said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (Alex Kent/Getty Images/File)
He pointed to a bevy of instances in which New York Democrats have leveraged their state power to combat Trump and the Republican Party in recent years, including gerrymandering and “stacking” New York’s top court with Democrats.
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“If you look at the track record of the Democrats, who control every aspect of state government here in New York, they have changed the rules so many times just because it benefits them. Whether it’s redistricting, whether it’s stacking the Court of Appeals, whether it’s allowing the governor to remove her then-indicted lieutenant governor from the ballot. The list goes on and on,” he said.
NY Republican Assemblyman Matt Slater (NY legislature )
“And in this case, it will deprive 800,000 New Yorkers of proper representation in Washington. And oh by the way, there were two special elections last year. And the Democrats didn’t say anything about changing the rules because fact of the matter is, these are Republican districts that will be impacted, and they are trying to disrupt the Trump administration and, frankly, Leader Johnson from being able to deliver on their agenda.”
President Donald Trump nominated Stefanik to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under his second administration. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to advance the New York Republican’s confirmation on Thursday, with her full Senate floor vote expected later this week.
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Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York, left, and Assemblyman Matt Slater, a Republican from New York, are shown during a campaign event at the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Mahopac, New York, on June 29, 2023. (Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Stefanik is expected to resign from the U.S. House to take the ambassadorship if and when the Senate officially confirms her nomination.
A spokesperson for Democrat New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told Gothamist that she “believes it’s critical to increase voter turnout and reduce the cost of election administration, and she would support legislation that achieves that goal.”
Slater poured cold water on the office’s claim that the proposal is rooted in promoting voter turnout and easing costs, pointing to two special elections held last year – former Democrat Rep. Brian Higgins’ seat as well as the February 2024 special election to replace former Republican Rep. George Santos’ in a district where Democrats were expected to have an edge over the GOP. Democrats, who have held trifecta control in the state since 2018, did not push to change special election laws last year, Slater noted.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/File)
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“I can’t believe how hypocritical the governor and her office can be in this, because let me remind the governor that she had two special elections for Congress last year,” he said.
“To sit here and say that this is going to save taxpayer money and increase voter turnout, but you didn’t think about that last year when your own party had special elections that you were favored to win? Fact of the matter is, this has everything to do with the fact that this is a Republican seat. This is about control of Republicans in Congress, and this is about disrupting President Trump’s agenda in Washington.”
Local outlets have reported the bill could push the special election beyond June to November, when the state holds its general elections, though Slater cast doubt that Democrats would push the envelope that far.
House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (Getty Images)
“If you want to talk about increasing voter turnout and saving taxpayer money, they really don’t have an excuse to wait past that June date. And so, you know, yes, it’s always a possibility that November is the date that they put in the legislation. But I’m hard-pressed to believe that they would go that far,” he said.
Slater argued that the push from Democrats to approve the special election change is a wake-up call for New Yorkers.
“[It’s] so transparently political that New Yorkers need to wake up, and they need to understand that this isn’t the leadership that we’re asking for. President Trump has a great agenda moving forward, and this is all about disrupting that agenda to put America first,” he said.
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Stefanik is a longtime Trump ally who chaired the House Republican Conference from 2021 to 2025, making her the fourth-most powerful Republican in the House. She was first elected to the House in blue New York in 2014 at age 30, making her the youngest woman elected to the House at the time.
Fox News Digital reached out to the governor’s office on Sunday but did not immediately receive a reply.
