Trump critic Rep. Liz Cheney faces long odds in Wyoming as Sarah Palin vies for Alaska comeback
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) faces long odds to keep her seat Tuesday in a Wyoming GOP primary dominated by her harsh criticism of former President Donald Trump.
Polls say Cheney, who is vice chairwoman of the Democratic-led committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, has little chance of fending off a pro-Trump challenge by Harriet Hageman in the overwhelmingly GOP state.
In Alaska, onetime Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is vying to fill an open seat in Congress and mount a comeback after a decade on the political sidelines.
Cheney, a onetime rising GOP star, has won praise from those who see Trump as a threat to American democracy.
Rep. Liz Cheney (SAUL LOEB/)
But with Trump still firmly in control of the GOP, that criticism has cost her most of her support in ruby-red Wyoming and threatened to end her career in Congress.
Cheney has been forced to plead for crossover support from minority Democrats and rely on endorsements from establishment Republicans like her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has assailed Trump as the biggest threat to American democracy in history.
Entering the final stretch of her primary campaign, Cheney hasn’t backed down. She recently released a video with a closing message reinforcing her criticism of Trump.
“The lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is insidious,” Cheney said. “It preys on those who love their country. It is a door Donald Trump opened to manipulate Americans to abandon their principles, to sacrifice their freedom, to justify violence, to ignore the rulings of our courts and the rule of law.”
She added, “This is Donald Trump’s legacy, but it cannot be the future of our nation.”
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Palin, meanwhile, is seeking to win a special election for the seat held by Republican Rep. Don Young, who died recently. She is also running in a crowded open primary to fill the same seat for the next two-year term.
A hand-painted sign stands in opposition to US Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) displayed on the side of a road along with the support of her Republican primary opponent Harriet Hageman in Casper, Wyoming, on August 14, 2022. (PATRICK T. FALLON/)
The elections will both be held under Alaska’s new open primary and ranked voting system that voters approved in 2020.
Palin is vying to win the special election against fellow Republican Nick Begich and Democrat Mary Peltola. A fourth candidate pulled out of the race after the special primary.
FILE - Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin makes a joke about the size of the state of Texas compared to Alaska during her appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Aug. 4, 2022. (LM Otero/)
The winner will be determined using ranked-choice voting, meaning the preference votes of the third-place candidate may determine the winner.
The ex-governor and running mate of Arizona Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid will also compete against a slew of candidates, including Begich and Peltola
The top four vote-getters will advance to the November general election, regardless of party affiliation.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a critic of Trump, is also seeking reelection to a seat she has held for nearly 20 years and faces 18 opponents.
For his part, Trump has been harsh in his assessment of Murkowski. At a rally in Anchorage last month with Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka and Palin, whom he’s endorsed for Alaska’s only House seat, he called Murkowski “the worst. I rate her No. 1 bad.”
With News Wire Services
