ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan’s firebrand Lisa McClain has her sights trained on the fourth-top GOP job in the House — and tells The Post being a swing-state rep is her not-so-secret weapon.
Rep. Elise Stefanik is leaving the prestigious Republican House Conference chair position vacant, taking the role of ambassador to the United Nations in the next administration. As conference chair, McClain, a Trump loyalist, would organize meetings of Republican representatives and communicate their policies to the public.
McClain put her hat in the ring Monday, tweeting, “Trump & I brought together a unified coalition of voters in Michigan that represents the modern Republican party. I’m running to be Conference Chair because this is the approach we need to retain and grow our Conference. I’m ready for the challenge!”
Internal Republican leadership elections begin Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. and will determine whether McClain rises on the congressional totem pole.
McClain, known for her intense loyalty to Donald Trump and fiery exchanges on the House floor, quickly received endorsements from prominent Republican reps such as fellow Michigander John James, Texas’ Lance Gooden and Virginia’s Rob Wittman.
In an exclusive interview with The Post, McClain said she hopes to immediately begin undoing the Biden-Harris administration’s policies when Trump returns to the White House.
“There is no question that the American people sent a mandate that they want us to govern. That message has been sent loud and clear,” said McClain, who believes the three highest priorities are border security, making goods affordable and securing peace abroad.
“Those are the two really big issues, the economy and the border, that really resonated throughout America, no matter what your district was, whether it was red, blue or purple,” she said. “I’ll throw in a third one. And that was our foreign policy — peace in the Middle East. Peace in the world was on the top of a lot of voters’ minds.”
McClain, who entered Congress in 2021, had an easy path to victory in 2024, garnering almost 70% of the vote in Michigan’s 9th District. But she says she didn’t sit on the sidelines.
“I helped deliver Michigan for Trump and secure the House majority. Michigan turned red for Trump. We re-elected John James, who was in a pretty purple seat, and then we actually flipped the seat to Tom Barrett,” said McClain. “I’ve given over a million dollars directly to the NRCC and candidates.” That cash came from her campaign and her political-action committee.
McClain told The Post that because she comes from a lean-blue state, she’s able to communicate across the aisle and sell the Republican agenda to Democratic voters.
“The advantage that I have is I’m in a very rub-red district, but my state is purple.” said McClain. “It gets you to listen differently and listen to different constituents and really understand that we need to have the majority so we can set conservative policies. We don’t need to give up our conservative values, but you do need to listen and make sure that you’re present in those districts.”
A former saleswoman, McClain has a high level of media training and conversational fluency — must-haves for a conference chair.
“I was lucky I worked for a sales company for 35 years,” she said. “I helped build the sales company from the ground up, and we had 700 employees.”
Because of Michigan’s great diversity, McClain believes she’s in a strong position to be an advocate for the GOP agenda to a base expanded in this year’s election.
“You have to have a clear, precise message that works across all areas.“ the rep said. “Republicans outperformed, whether it be Arab-American communities, African-American communities or Jewish communities.”
