Rep. Liz Cheney lost her Wyoming GOP primary Tuesday night to a Trump-backed candidate after becoming an outspoken Republican dissident after the Jan. 6 incident at the Capitol.
Harriet Hageman, an attorney and erstwhile Cheney loyalist, defeated Cheney after being endorsed by Trump last year.
Cheney made opposing Trump, whom she’s called a threat to democracy, a major element of her political identity. It cost her in Trump-friendly Wyoming. Cheney ceded to Hageman on Tuesday night, but told supporters it was just the start.
Future Plans?
Cheney declared at the end of her speech that she would do whatever it takes to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office. It’s a fight for us all.
Rep Liz Cheney (R-WY) tonight: “Two years ago I won this primary with 73% of the vote. I could’ve done so again. The path was clear. But it would’ve required that I went along with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election”
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) August 17, 2022
Cheney’s next plans remain unknown after Trump’s successful retribution operation. She didn’t declare future plans, but suggested she would target election skeptics in her own party while speaking like a candidate for president.
She stated the primary is finished, but the actual job begins. Her crew is controlling her anti-Trump message. Her campaign avoided most publicity when she voted, traveling to a different voting station across town.
It appears that Liz Cheney, one of the GOP's chief warmongers, is about to lose. This is good news for every American regardless of party.
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) August 17, 2022
Cheney also said she’d go after Trump’s Republican enablers. Cheney’s standing as Trump’s top political enemy originates from her role on the House select committee probing the previous president’s guilt for the Jan. 6 rebellion.
It led to her removal from the GOP leadership and alienation from the party.
Other Republicans Who Voted to Impeach
Cheney’s primary was the last of 10 House Republicans who backed impeaching Trump over the Jan. 6 assault.
Only six of those lawmakers sought reelection. Just two won their primaries and progressed to the general election: California’s David Valadao and Washington’s Dan Newhouse.
Cheney’s future hinges on national political headwinds.
To House Republicans and Jackson Hole residents, it was evident Cheney knew her presence on the Jan. 6 panel would embarrass her party.
Cheney encouraged Democrats and Independents to register as Republicans and participate in the GOP primary, indicating she lost most of her conservative backing in the state.
It made for a strange combination of now-supportive leftists who have long reviled the Cheney family and the old guard of the Republican Party.
Cheney had the support of past national parties like her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former President George W. Bush, and Sen. Mitt Romney, all of whom have seen their stature decline under Trump’s takeover of the GOP.
Cheney spent millions campaigning to save her seat, but her fundraising surpassed her spending, leaving her with millions for future political aspirations.
Crossover casting is complicated to quantify and execute meaningfully. Wyoming voter registration statistics show a slight gain in Republican registrants during the summer, while Democratic numbers fell.
Teton County, the state’s bluest, most liberal county, saw even more registrations. Cheney voted in a touristic, resort-filled section of Wyoming notorious for wealthy out-of-towners forcing people out.
This article appeared in The Political Globe and has been published here with permission.
