Liz Cheney loses re-election bid in pro-Trump backlash

Rep. Liz Cheney, who has become one of former President Donald J. Trump's fiercest critics in the Republican Party, lost her re-election bid in Wyoming on Tuesday.

The result confirmed that loyalty to Trump — and his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen — remains a critical litmus test in Republican politics. Cheney angered her constituents, first by voting to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6 uprising, then by serving as vice chair of the House Select Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol.

Cheney lost to Harriet Hageman, a Trump-endorsed candidate who was 'rigged' in the 2020 election

The Associated Press announced the race at 8:21 p.m. local time, Hageman ahead of Cheney.

In a speech Tuesday night to her supporters, Cheney shared that she called on Hageman to back down.

“Two years ago, I won this primary with 73% of the vote,” she said. "I could have easily done it again. The path was clear, but I would have had to accept President Trump's lie about the 2020 election...It's a path I couldn't and didn't want to take. No seat in the House - no office in this country - is more important than the principles we are all sworn to protect."

Running up the polls in recent weeks, Cheney has not backed down from her attacks on Trump, who won nearly 70% of the vote in Wyoming in the 2020 election. She ran an ad in which her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, called Trump a "coward" and a "threat to our republic."

"My opinion is that at the end of the day, if defending the Constitution against the threat it poses means losing a seat in the House, then that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make," Cheney said. in an interview with CNN. . “I don't intend to lose. But some things are more important than any individual position or political campaign.”

Cheney said her main goal remains to ensure Trump is not the Republican nominee for president in 2024. She has not ruled out running for president herself. Some believe she will become a regular cable news contributor or get her own MSNBC show after stepping down from her representative seat.

Hageman claimed that Cheney became obsessed with January 6 and lost touch with the state.

"She doesn't represent us," Hageman said in a campaign ad. “She doesn't represent Wyoming. It does not represent our values."

Hageman campaigned as a 'true conservative,' saying voters were fed up with the Biden administration, vaccine and mask mandates, Anthony Fauci and conservative censorship on social media platforms. social media.

10 Republicans voted to impeach Trump in the House in 2021. Four were defeated in the primaries, while four others announced they would retire.

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