PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — On the second floor of an upscale golf resort near Jacksonville this past week, House Republicans gathered for drinks as they kicked off a three-day retreat to plot their path to winning the majority in this year’s midterm elections.
Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, dressed down in a fleece vest, stood in one corner while Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia hustled in and out of the reception area. But it was Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, the No. 3 Republican and an architect of the party’s message, who was running the show, working the room with her 7-month-old son on her hip.
A year ago, the same House Republican retreat was fraught with drama as Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who then held the third-ranking leadership post, publicly denounced former President Donald J. Trump’s election lies. That prompted a backlash from other Republican leaders, who swiftly moved to oust her and install Ms. Stefanik in her place.
This year, with Ms. Stefanik acting as the event’s organizer and M.C., there was little dissent on display. Inflation, immigration and President Biden’s failures were played up, while Mr. Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 election and his denial of any responsibility for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol did not even merit a mention — a mark of how thoroughly the party has rallied around the former president.
That Ms. Stefanik, 37, would be hosting this particular party seemed fitting. A...
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