Stefanik's RNC speech was 9 years in the making, Delgado's super PAC donors

And a new audit has warnings about the state's energy goals.

Good afternoon — it’s Wednesday and National Tattoo Day.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2024

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TODAY’S CAPCON:

• U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik has become a star of the Republican party and a top defender of former President Donald J. Trump. But she wasn’t always that way.

• A super PAC being run by Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado brought in quite a bit of cash in the last few months. Here’s who donated.

• A new audit has warnings for the state’s ambitious energy goals and whether enough planning has been done to meet them.

☀️ Tonight’s Weather: Albany: Rain, high 60s. New York City: Storms, high 70s. (National Weather Service)

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(Matt Rourke/Associated Press)

🗣️ Stefanik’s stardom at Trump’s RNC was 9 years in the making

🔴 The North Country congresswoman stumped for Trump in a primetime address at the Republican National Convention.

Rep. Elise STEFANIK still had braces and couldn’t yet vote when she attended the Albany Academy for Girls — a pricy private school — but she was already charting her political future.

“I support the Republican view, especially his,'' a 14-year-old Stefanik said to a Times Union reporter in 1998, when then-Sen. Al D’AMATO, a Republican, was running for reelection.

“He supports education, breast cancer research and he supports all of New York state, not just downstate,” she said in her support of D’Amato.

• D’Amato was facing a challenge from some guy in Congress named Charles E. Schumer. Schumer won.

Stefanik didn’t know it then, but her star would quickly rise in the Republican party almost two decades later when she became a key surrogate for former President Donald J. TRUMP.

And that support was further solidified Tuesday night when she delivered a stump speech at the Republican National Convention in support of him.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing, will stop President Trump from standing and fighting for our great country,” Stefanik said. “And I have been proud to always stand in the breach during the toughest moments for President Trump.”

Stefanik in 2014 (John Carl D'Annibale/Times Union)

🏃 But it wasn’t always that way. 

Stefanik has a complicated history with the former president, a Republican who also once hailed from New York.

When Trump first ran for president, Stefanik was in her first term in Congress. 

• She had just flipped her North Country district from blue to red and was seeking a second term.

“I think he has been insulting to women,” Stefanik said of Trump after he announced his campaign in 2015, when Republicans hadn’t yet rallied around him.