Rep. Liz Cheney lost her primary on Tuesday to Donald Trump supporter Harriet Hageman after focusing her political platform and campaign on denouncing the former president as an existential threat to American democracy.
Given the partisan complexion of her district and the polls that showed Cheney trailing Hageman, it was highly believed that she would lose. With around 70% of the vote, Trump won Wyoming in the 2016 presidential election.
Even still, Cheney’s fall is Trump’s largest victory in his campaign of retaliation against party opponents and serves as a cautionary tale for those anti-Trump Republicans who might be tempted to oppose him.
The decision between Cheney and Hageman, who both set out conservative policy views, was mostly based on devotion to Trump and national themes.
Liz Cheney made a point of attacking Trump for his involvement in the tragic Capitol uprising last year, portraying her reelection campaign as a struggle to uphold the GOP’s ideals.
While Liz Cheney, whom Hageman had previously advised, was criticized as a politician more intent on unseating the de facto GOP leader, Hageman backed Trump’s unsubstantiated charges of election fraud.
Cheney greatly out-raised Hageman and has a well-known last name. But as time went on, it became apparent that the three-term senator was the underdog as Wyoming Republicans increasingly supported her opponent, according to polls.
In one of the reddest states in the nation, Hageman is now predicted to cruise to victory in the general election against likely Democratic rival Lynnette Grey Bull and serve as a steadfast Trump friend in the House.
Cheney’s defeat serves as a capstone to an ex-GOP star’s dizzying rise and quick fall.
She was first elected in 2016 and rose to become the third-ranking Republican in the House by late 2018. This rise fueled speculation that she had the speakership in mind for the future.
She eventually became the vice chair of the special committee looking into the Capitol riot, but after last year’s uprising, she became the highest-ranking House Republican to support impeaching Trump.
Her unwavering criticism of Trump enraged both other House Republicans, who charged that she was undermining their agenda, and some Wyoming constituents, who saw Cheney as an absentee representative more concerned with the past president than with local problems.
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