Liz Cheney, Trump’s Biggest Republican Critic Loses Wyoming Seat
Fomer President Donald Trump’s fiercest Republican critic, has lost her party’s nomination for the United States Congress to a Trump-backed candidate, in the latest sign of her party’s break with traditional conservatism.
Once considered Republican royalty, the legislator from Wyoming has become a pariah to her party over her role on the congressional panel investigating the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol, and Trump’s role in fanning the flames.
The polls for the Republican nomination for November’s midterm elections closed in Wyoming at 7pm local time (01:00 GMT on Wednesday).
US media said 56-year-old Cheney had lost to lawyer Harriet Hageman, who has amplified Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was “rigged”.
Cheney described her loss as the beginning of a new chapter in her political career as she addressed a small group of supporters, including her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, on the edge of a vast field flanked by mountains and bales of hay.
“I have said since January 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 in a concession speech after losing her seat.
“Our work is far from over.”
Cheney had used her campaign — and her position on the Jan 6 committee — to keep attention on Trump’s actions around the Capitol riot, and his continued lies about election fraud, in a bid to persuade fellow Republicans the former president is a threat to democracy.
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Terry Sullivan, a political strategist, told the Reuters news agency that Cheney’s campaign was of greater significance than a single primary.
“Liz Cheney isn’t fighting for re-election, she’s fighting for the direction of the Republican Party,” he said, noting that some observers have discussed whether Cheney should mount a 2024 presidential campaign. “It’s more of a kind of a beginning, not an end.”
‘Thorn in Trump’s side’
Wyoming is one of the most conservative states in the US and reliably Republican, so it is unlikely to play a significant role in deciding whether President Joe Biden’s Democrats lose their razor-thin majorities in Congress come November. Republicans are expected to easily retake the House and also have a good chance of winning control of the Senate.
culled from Aljazeera.