President Trump on Thursday said he had asked Representative Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York, to stay in Congress rather than serve as ambassador to the United Nations, amid concern about the minuscule voting margin that Republicans hold in the House.
“There are others that can do a good job at the United Nations,” Mr. Trump wrote on his website, Truth Social, where he said it was critical for Republicans to hold onto every House seat they have. “Therefore, Elise will stay in Congress, rejoin the House Leadership Team, and continue to fight for our amazing American People.”
Mr. Trump hinted that he might make it up to Ms. Stefanik in the future with another position in his administration. But for now, he said, Speaker Mike Johnson was “thrilled” with the development.
It was a stunning turnaround for Ms. Stefanik, who was Mr. Trump’s first cabinet nominee and who had been expecting to be confirmed by the Senate in the coming days.
And it underscored the precarious position that House Republicans are in with such a narrow majority that they can afford few defections. Mr. Johnson had previously said he could not afford to lose Ms. Stefanik while he was maneuvering critical measures, including his party’s budget plan, through the House.
It also highlighted concerns among Mr. Trump and leading members of his party about their ability to win what should be safe Republican seats in districts like Ms. Stefanik’s solidly red region of upstate New York.
Ms. Stefanik had apparently expected that her wait to be confirmed would soon be over. She has spent the past week on Instagram posting a nostalgic retrospective of her time in Congress as she prepared for her tenure there to end. And she participated in a farewell tour across her district.
Her nomination had been expected to move ahead after April 1, when two Trump-endorsed Republicans were expected to fill a pair of House seats in Florida that were left vacant after the departures of former Representatives Michael Waltz and Matt Gaetz of Florida. Both had resigned after Mr. Trump selected them to serve in his administration, though Mr. Gaetz later withdrew from consideration as attorney general amid resistance on Capitol Hill.
But there has been growing concern among Republicans in recent days about the special election to replace Mr. Waltz, the embattled national security adviser who has drawn criticism for his involvement in a leaked Signal chat about a military strike on Yemen in which he included a journalist. What was supposed to be a safe seat has become a competitive race.
Mr. Trump, according to two people familiar with his thinking who described it on the condition of anonymity, has been livid at Mr. Waltz for his role in inadvertently including the editor of The Atlantic in the high-level chat and at the apparent difficulty at holding his seat in Florida.
He did not want the same thing to happen with Ms. Stefanik’s departure.
“With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat,” Mr. Trump said in his post.
In a Thursday night interview on “Hannity” on Fox News, Ms. Stefanik said that while she was “honored” to have been nominated as Mr. Trump’s ambassador to the U.N., she understood the importance of shoring up the Republican majority in the House.
“This is about stepping up as a team, and I am doing that as a leader,” she said.
Ms. Stefanik had been eager to join the cabinet, though, and had not expected to stay for so long in the House, where she gave up a leadership position and had already let many longtime staff members go. She also has not been seated on any subcommittees.
Her focus had been on the next job, and she had been privately expressing frustration on the delay with her Senate confirmation hearing.
Ms. Stefanik attended the first Trump cabinet meeting. And when Mr. Trump addressed a joint session of Congress, she sat with the cabinet rather than her House colleagues.
On social media on Thursday, Mr. Johnson said he planned to invite Ms. Stefanik “to return to the leadership table immediately.” But it was not clear what position she would occupy. The person who holds her old job as conference chair, Representative Lisa McClain, Republican of Michigan, is not resigning, according to a person familiar with her thinking.
In the Fox News interview, Ms. Stefanik skirted a question about what her position might be in Republican leadership, saying only that she would be making more media appearances now that she was no longer concerned with the nomination process. And she sidestepped a question about whether she might serve in Mr. Trump’s administration at a later date.
“I’ve been in the House quite a long time,” Ms. Stefanik said, adding: “I have a long ways to go.”
Michael Gold contributed reporting.