During a guest lecture series at Duke University, former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney said she would be voting for Kamala Harris for president. Cheney was once the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House who became a vocal critic of former Pres. Donald Trump.
“Not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris this election,” Cheney announced.
The Wyoming Democratic Party welcomed Liz Cheney’s endorsement and released a statement from Chair Joe Barbuto.
“While Ms. Cheney and I may not agree on many issues, we stand on common ground when it comes to understanding that preserving our democracy means doing everything we can to ensure Kamala Harris is the next President of the United States,” said Barbuto.
Cheney said she disagrees “most of the time” with the left, and her voting record was overwhelmingly aligned with Trump’s positions while she was in office. Despite their political alignment, Cheney told conservatives her intended vote is not based on policy.
“I understand the desire to think that you’re casting a vote for conservative policies,” said Cheney, “First of all, he’s not a conservative. And he’s dangerous. And this is not a policy election.”
“He’s gone to war with the rule of law. He repeatedly suggests that the people who assaulted and attacked the Capitol should be celebrated. He has said he will ignore the rulings of the courts. He won’t leave office. He’s a risk that we simply can’t take. And he has to be defeated. And I say that not as a liberal Democrat, not as someone who agrees with policies on the left most of the time. But he is simply a risk that as a nation, we must never take again,” she said.
Cheney had differences with Trump, namely his qualms with NATO (North Atlantic Trade Organization) and admiration for the Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin. But it wasn’t until late 2020 that a larger split would begin between the two Republican politicians.
Trump attacked Cheney’s father for wearing a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Cheney disagreed with Trump’s use of executive power and consideration to lift restrictions early during the pandemic.
However, it wasn’t until after Trump lost the 2020 election that her major clash with the former president would begin.
Leading up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump falsely claimed unprecedented levels of voter-fraud. He suggested former Vice Pres. Mike Pence should influence the vote certification, which takes place months after votes were cast, and told a crowd of supporters, , “We’re going to the Capitol. We’re going to try and give [Republicans] the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”
After the events of Jan. 6, Cheney was made the vice-chairwoman on the committee investigating the riot. Her scrutiny of Trump’s response to rioters entering the Capitol virtually ended her career as a member of the GOP. She was ousted from leadership and censored by the Republican National Committee alongside fellow Jan. 6 committee member Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois). She continued to distance herself from Trump after the election, and Wyoming Republicans eventually voted for Trump-backed candidate Harriet Hageman to replace Cheney in the 2022 Wyoming GOP primary.
Now, Cheney has found herself operating as an independent conservative who’s often praised by Democrats for standing in opposition to Trump. While she’s out of office, and therefore talking far less about her specific positions on election issues, she has talked about Trump’s character and comments on the constitution.
“The power of the presidency is the most awesome power of any office anywhere in the world, and the character of the people we elect really matters,” said Cheney during her talk at Duke.
While Trump has not yet directly responded to Cheney’s remarks, an X account affiliated with the Trump campaign tweeted out “Dis u @Liz_Cheney ?” with a link to a Fox News interview in which Cheney blasted then vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris as someone “left of Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont),” calling her a “radical liberal” who would spend “$32 trillion on ‘Medicare for All.’” While Harris did support a Medicare for All plan, her 2020 presidential campaign proposals would not have replaced private insurers for a nationalized healthcare system, as democratic socialist Sanders had called for.
Cheney has criticized Harris multiple times in the past, citing fears similar to those espoused by Trump. Cheney made clear in her endorsement that she was voting out of a civic duty to prevent someone with Trump’s personality back into office, not party loyalty.
“And I would say to my fellow conservatives that we think about the stakes and that we think about the extent to which we have a duty – a duty, to put our country and constitution above partisanship,” Cheney said.
Harris’s presidential campaign team had reportedly been courting Cheney for an endorsement, along with other Republicans.
Former Vice-President Dick Cheney, the father of the former Wyoming Congresswoman, also endorsed Harris for president — just days later.
“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” he said in a statement reported by many national outlets.
