EXCLUSIVE – Though she stopped short of a formal endorsement, billionaire philanthropist Miriam Adelson voiced support for Rep. Elise Stefanik’s New York gubernatorial bid during the Zionist Organization of America’s Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award Dinner on Sunday night, praising her for confronting antisemitism in government and higher education.

Stefanik, chairwoman of the House Republican Leadership, was honored with the Zionist Organization of America’s Mortimer Zuckerman Maccabee Warrior Award for her efforts to combat antisemitism.

Introducing her at the gala, Adelson lauded Stefanik for confronting university leaders over antisemitism and invoked her late husband Sheldon Adelson’s insistence on moral conviction.

“When I heard you talking to the heads of the universities, I said to myself, ‘She has the guts to say the truth,’” Adelson said. “Sheldon used to say, ‘stand up for what you believe in even if you stand up alone,’ and you showed us and all the world courage.”

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Adelson went on to describe Stefanik as “a great leader,” crediting her for defending “the Jewish people, Israel and the Free World.”

“Thank you for continuing to be what you are — a brave lady,” Adelson said. “I send to you from here a hug for all your achievements, and I hope to visit you in the office of New York governor next year after the election.”

Adelson, the majority owner of Las Vegas Sands and a philanthropist and physician whose net worth is estimated in the $30 billion-plus range, has been a prominent Republican mega-donor and backed the pro-Trump super PAC Preserve America in multiple election cycles.

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The Zionist Organization of America event, held in New York, drew political and philanthropic leaders from across the pro-Israel community.

“I am honored to receive such high praise and support from my friend Dr. Adelson who has served as a pillar of Jewish advocacy and strength in her fight to ensure the light of freedom, faith, and truth never goes out,” Stefanik told Fox News Digital. “I thank her for her glowing words of encouragement in my fight to save New York and fire Kathy Hochul.”

Stefanik launched her long-anticipated Republican campaign for New York governor on Friday, entering the 2026 race as she challenges Democratic Gov. Hochul.

A top House Republican and one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies, Stefanik represents a conservative-leaning district in upstate New York and had been weighing a gubernatorial run for months.

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“I’m running for governor to make New York affordable and safe. We have seen decades of single-party rule led by Democrats. And Kathy Hochul is the worst governor in America,” Stefanik said Friday morning on “Fox & Friends.”

“New York is the most unaffordable state in the nation, with the highest taxes, the highest energy bills, the highest utility bills. We also have a crime crisis because Kathy Hochul has brought us failed bail reform and has embraced the defund the police Democrats,” Stefanik continued.

“And after this week… when we saw a raging anti-Semite pro-Hamas communist who wants to raise taxes. And frankly, he barely won the majority of New York City voters, Kathy Hochul endorsed him and bent the knee,” Stefanik added, referencing New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist.

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When announcing her campaign the day before she launched it, Stefanik said, “I am running for Governor to bring a new generation of leadership to Albany to make New York affordable and safe for families all across our great state.”

“Our campaign will unify Republicans, Democrats, and Independents to fire Kathy Hochul once and for all to save New York,” she pledged in her statement and accompanying video.

Stefanik, a member of the House Republican leadership, again charged that “Kathy Hochul is the worst governor in America,” repeating a line that she’s used for months.

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“People are looking for strong, commonsense leadership to be a check on this radical insanity that we’re seeing play out in New York City with Zohran Mamdani as a tax-hiking, defund the police, antisemite socialist,” Stefanik said in an interview Thursday on “The Story with Martha MacCallum.”

And in her campaign launch announcement, she reiterated that Hochul “bent the knee” to Mamdani.

Hochul has since turned to social media and interviews with CNN to attack Stefanik’s record of being a “Trump Republican.”

On Friday, Hochul posted, “While I’m fighting like hell to lower costs for New York families, Elise Stefanik is screwing over New Yorkers and jacking up costs to please Trump. Stefanik will always put Trump first and you last.”

In another post that same day, Hochul shared a clip from her appearance on CNN, on X.

“Elise Stefanik is more than just Trump’s ally. She’s voted with him 100% of the time this year,” Hochul wrote. “She owns this shutdown. She owns the fact that 3 million New Yorkers are trying to figure out how to feed their families. That’s Sellout Stefanik.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Hochul’s office for a comment regarding Adelson’s voice support for Stefanik.

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Stefanik, who once criticized Trump during his first presidential run, has since become one of his staunchest defenders in Congress.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.