WASHINGTON As she rose to stand in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 6, the eyes of the nation were upon Elise Stefanik. President Trump was celebrating his acquittal in the impeachment trial the day before with a freewheeling address that excoriated his critics and praised his supporters.

One by one, members of Congress stood to receive fulsome praise from the president, whether about their looks, their legal acumen or their reelection prospects.

There was little doubt that Stefanik would be among those thanked by Trump. During the impeachment hearings that took place in the House of Representatives in November, she emerged as a conservative celebrity for her dogged defense of the president.

Its most incredible whats going on with you, Elise, Trump said to Stefanik. You were killing them.

Impeachment appears to have been a boon for Trump, with the president enjoying the highest approval ratings of his presidency . Impeachment has also been a boon for Stefanik, who in November will defend the northern New York seat in the states 21st Congressional District that she has held since 2015 . Stefaniks most recent campaign filing revealed that she raised $3.2 million in the last three months of 2019. That exceeded the reelection haul of progressive darling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , D-N.Y., according to New York politics outlet City & State .

Stefanik has raised money from the likes of former libertarian presidential candidate Ross Perot Jr. and Karl Rove, the mastermind behind George W. Bushs successful 2000 presidential campaign. While the amounts they donated are not enormous, the donations themselves are significant, adding credibility to the notion that Stefanik is indeed a conservative on the rise.

At the same time, she has accepted contributions from a disgraced casino magnate, as well as from a Florida-based donor who made racist statements about President Barack Obama .

While impeachment has proved helpful for her fundraising, its also sparked a backlash against her. Before impeachment, no national effort to unseat Stefanik was underway: Trump won NY-21 by 14 points.

That had also been Stefaniks margin over Tedra Cobb, a county politician who is challenging her for the seat again. Shes not vulnerable in 2020, concluded polling expert Dave Wasserman , observing that Stefanik is well-aligned with her North Country district, which voted twice for Obama before moving sharply right in 2016.

Impeachment, however, has focused progressive ire at Stefanik, potentially making the race more competitive than it would have otherwise been. In one tweet sent in the midst of the House impeachment inquiry, George Conway , the Republican attorney who is one of Trumps most ferocious opponents, called Stefanik lying trash and urged his 940,000 followers to give to her opponent. They did, with Cobb reporting $2.05 million in contributions in the final fiscal quarter of 2019.

Act Blue, the progressive political group, has also singled her out. We dont need another grandstanding Trump sycophant in Congress, it says on an anti-Stefanik fundraising page.