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Cheney Defeated in Wyoming GOP Primary 08/17 06:14
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, Donald Trump's fiercest
Republican adversary in Congress, was defeated in a GOP primary Tuesday,
falling to a rival backed by the former president in a rout that reinforced his
grip on the party's base.
The third-term congresswoman and her allies entered the day downbeat about
her prospects, aware that Trump's backing gave Harriet Hageman considerable
lift in the state where he won by the largest margin during the 2020 campaign.
Cheney was already looking ahead to a political future beyond Capitol Hill that
could include a 2024 presidential run, potentially putting her on another
collision course with Trump.
Cheney described her loss as the beginning of a new chapter in her political
career as she addressed a small collection of supporters, including her father,
former Vice President Dick Cheney, on the edge of a vast field flanked by
mountains and bales of hay.
"Our work is far from over," she said Tuesday evening, evoking Abraham
Lincoln, who also lost congressional elections before ascending to the
presidency and preserving the union.
The results -- and the roughly 30-point margin -- were a powerful reminder
of the GOP's rapid shift to the right. A party once dominated by national
security-oriented, business-friendly conservatives like her father now belongs
to Trump, animated by his populist appeal and, above all, his denial of defeat
in the 2020 election.
Such lies, which have been roundly rejected by federal and state election
officials along with Trump's own attorney general and judges he appointed,
transformed Cheney from an occasional critic of the former president to the
clearest voice inside the GOP warning that he represents a threat to democratic
norms. She's the top Republican on the House panel investigating the Jan. 6,
2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, an attack
she referenced in nodding to her political future.
"I have said since Jan. 6 that I will do whatever it takes to ensure Donald
Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office -- and I mean it," she said.
Four hundred miles to the east of Cheney's concession speech, festive
Hageman supporters gathered at a sprawling outdoor rodeo and Western culture
festival in Cheyenne, many wearing cowboy boots, hats and blue jeans.
"Obviously we're all very grateful to President Trump, who recognizes that
Wyoming has only one congressional representative and we have to make it
count," said Hageman, a ranching industry attorney who had finished third in a
previous bid for governor.
Echoing Trump's conspiracy theories, she falsely claimed the 2020 election
was "rigged" as she courted his loyalists in the runup to the election.
Trump and his team celebrated Cheney's loss, which may represent his biggest
political victory in a primary season full of them. The former president called
the results "a complete rebuke" of the Jan. 6 committee.
"Liz Cheney should be ashamed of herself, the way she acted, and her
spiteful, sanctimonious words and actions towards others," he wrote on his
social media platform. "Now she can finally disappear into the depths of
political oblivion where, I am sure, she will be much happier than she is right
now. Thank you WYOMING!"
The news offered a welcome break from Trump's focus on his growing legal
entanglements. Just eight days earlier, federal agents executing a search
warrant recovered 11 sets of classified records from the former president's
Florida estate.
Cheney's defeat would have been unthinkable just two years ago. The daughter
of a former vice president, she hails from one of the most prominent political
families in Wyoming. And in Washington, she was the No. 3 House Republican, an
influential voice in GOP politics and policy with a sterling conservative
voting record.
Cheney will now be forced from Congress at the end of her third and final
term in January. She is not expected to leave Capitol Hill quietly.
She will continue in her leadership role on the congressional panel
investigating the Jan. 6 attack until it dissolves at the end of the year. And
she is actively considering a 2024 White House bid -- as a Republican or
independent -- having vowed to do everything in her power to fight Trump's
influence in her party.
With Cheney's loss, Republicans who voted to impeach Trump are going extinct.
In all, seven Republican senators and 10 Republican House members backed
Trump's impeachment in the days after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol
as Congress tried to certify President Joe Biden's victory. Just two of those
10 House members have won their primaries this year. After two Senate
retirements, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is the only such Senate Republican
on this year's ballot.
Cheney was forced to seek assistance from the state's tiny Democratic
minority in her bid to pull off a victory. But Democrats across America, major
donors among them, took notice. She raised at least $15 million for her
election, a stunning figure for a Wyoming political contest.
Voters responded to the interest in the race. With a little more than half
of the vote counted, turnout ran about 50% higher than in the 2018 Republican
primary for governor.
If Cheney does ultimately run for president -- either as a Republican or an
independent -- don't expect her to win Wyoming's three electoral votes.
"We like Trump. She tried to impeach Trump," Cheyenne voter Chester Barkell
said of Cheney on Tuesday. "I don't trust Liz Cheney."
And in Jackson, Republican voter Dan Winder said he felt betrayed by his
congresswoman.
"Over 70% of the state of Wyoming voted Republican in the last presidential
election and she turned right around and voted against us," said Winder, a
hotel manager. "She was our representative, not her own."
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