Blake Moore won't run to fill Rep. Elise Stefanik's House leadership post

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Rep. Blake Moore will seek reelection as House Republican conference vice chairman.
Moore decided against running for Rep. Elise Stefanik's GOP conference chair position, which she's leaving after being selected as United Nations ambassador in the incoming Trump administration.

WASHINGTON — Utah Rep. Blake Moore said he will seek reelection as the House Republican conference vice chairman on Tuesday, after briefly flirting with the idea of running to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik in leadership.

Stefanik, R-New York, was picked by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the incoming administration, creating a scramble from House Republicans to fill her seat as the GOP conference chair, the No. 4 spot in Republican leadership.

Moore was reportedly among them, according to Axios, which reported that the recently reelected congressman was making calls to that end on Monday. Moore was elected to House leadership just last year to replace Rep. Mike Johnson when Johnson became speaker of the House.

Moore announced Tuesday that he would not seek to replace Stefanik, but would ask his colleagues to reelect him as the GOP conference vice chairman.

"I thank my many colleagues for supporting my potential bid, but it is going to be an incredibly busy year on (the House Ways and Means Committee), & I believe that is where I can best deliver outcomes for families & workers across Utah's 1st District & the country," he posted on X. "If re-elected as conference vice chair, I will focus on cementing the growing base of our conservative coalition, win the messaging war on Republican tax & budget objectives, & arm members with resources & opportunities to communicate directly to the American people."

Republicans are poised to retain control of the House of Representatives after flipping the Senate and White House in last week's elections. Although Johnson was only elected House Speaker last year, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Politico it "seems likely" that someone will challenge the Louisiana lawmaker for the speaker's gavel.

House and Senate Republicans will elect caucus leaders in closed elections in Washington on Wednesday.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.