Elise Stefanik Honored with Top Jewish Award After Launching New York Governor Bid

Just days after launching her campaign for New York governor, Rep. Elise Stefanik received one of the Jewish world’s highest honors a moment that solidified her as both a rising political force and a principled defender of Western civilization.

On Monday night, Stefanik accepted the Theodor Herzl Award from the World Jewish Congress during a gala at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, vowing to continue confronting antisemitism, standing with Israel, and restoring sanity in a state ravaged by left-wing ideology.

“It is deeply humbling to receive the Theodor Herzl Award from the World Jewish Congress,” Stefanik told the 400 guests in attendance. “You have defended Jewish communities in every corner of the world, fought antisemitism in every form, and strengthened the unbreakable bonds between Israel and the global community of free nations.”

The award, presented by businessman and Reagan-era diplomat Ronald Lauder, recognizes individuals who embody Herzl’s vision for a strong and secure Jewish people. Past recipients include presidents and prime ministers. Now, a Republican woman from upstate New York joins that list not for playing politics, but for standing on principle.

Stefanik reminded the crowd of her now-iconic 2023 congressional hearing where she grilled the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and UPenn on antisemitism on campus.

“I asked a simple moral question: ‘Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university's code of conduct?’” Stefanik said. “One after another said, ‘it depends on the context.’ Let me be clear it does NOT depend on the context.”

That moment triggered a nationwide firestorm and forced resignations at the highest levels of academia. It also cemented Stefanik as a leader unafraid to speak moral truth in a culture drowning in cowardice.

She turned her focus to her home state, warning that New York a city and state she said is “in crisis” is now the “epicenter of the battle for the very Western values that have shaped America.”

“Eighty years after Kristallnacht, we must not stay silent,” she declared. “I will continue to call out antisemitism. Bigotry. Jew-hatred. Anti-Americanism.”

And she’s right to. New York had the highest number of antisemitic incidents in the country in 2024, according to the ADL. Hate crimes surged under Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul’s failed leadership, while soft-on-crime policies and silence from the left have emboldened violent radicals.

In a powerful display of support, billionaire philanthropist Miriam Adelson wife of the late Sheldon Adelson praised Stefanik during a separate event Sunday night, calling her “a great leader” who defends “the Jewish people, Israel, and the Free World.” She was also honored with the Zionist Organization of America’s Maccabee Warrior Award the same evening.

Stefanik's trajectory is clear. Once a moderate voice who criticized Donald Trump during his 2016 run, she’s now a top ally of the America First movement, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, and a direct challenge to the Democratic machine in New York.

Her entry into the 2026 governor’s race sends a strong message: the days of unchecked Democrat rule in New York may be coming to an end.

As Stefanik told the room Monday night “That is the spirit I see in this room tonight the spirit that built Israel, the spirit that has always animated the Jewish people, and the spirit that will save New York.”

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