Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) says that female Republican congressional candidates have Democrats "running for the hills."
"I didn't hear a lot of Democrats moving up to run for office in these target districts," Stefanik said at a Monday press conference. "I think most of them are playing defense."
Stefanik appeared alongside 10 "rising stars" she recently endorsed through her E-PAC, which works to elect female Republicans to office. Including these candidates—a group that includes a veteran and several Trump administration alums—Stefanik believes 50 Republican women could hold seats in Congress come November.
Republicans are bullish about their midterm prospects as Democrats struggle in the polls. More than 70 percent of Americans say the United States is on the wrong track under President Joe Biden, according to a recent NBC News poll. The same poll reported that the president's approval rating plummeted to 40 percent, an all-time low.
The candidates who appeared with Stefanik largely echoed the GOP conference chairwoman's criticisms of the Biden administration and its allies. Mayra Flores, who is vying for a seat in Texas's 34th Congressional District, said Democrats have lost touch with Hispanic voters.
"The Democratic Party has felt entitled to our vote," said Flores, who immigrated to the United States as a child. The former migrant worker said her election would send "a strong message to the Democrat Party" and inspire "the thousands of children" working in the fields "that anything is possible in America."
Morgan Ortagus, who served in the State Department under former president Donald Trump, told the Washington Free Beacon she was "honored" to receive an endorsement from Stefanik.
"She is a trailblazer for conservative, patriotic women, and has a vital role in pushing against the Democrats' woke, socialist agenda," said Ortagus, who is running in Tennessee's Fifth Congressional District.
The latest group of E-PAC-backed candidates also includes Trump White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative commissioner Cassy Garcia, who is running in Texas's 28th district, and Anna Paulina Luna, an Air Force veteran running in Florida's 13th district. E-PAC has endorsed 18 candidates ahead of the midterms.
More than 280 Republican women have filed to run for Congress this cycle, according to E-PAC. Since its founding in 2019, the group has raised $3.2 million for Republican women. E-PAC candidates accounted for 11 of the 15 seats Republicans flipped during the last congressional election.
Republicans need to flip five seats to regain the House majority. Ortagus believes it's possible.
"This is going to be a pink wave," she said at Monday's press conference. "It's Republican women around this country that are going to fire Nancy Pelosi, that are going to take the House back. And I'm excited and thrilled to be a part of it."