Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are high on former President Trump’s Republican list. As Alaska and Wyoming hold primaries on Tuesday, both federal lawmakers face voters for the first time since they moved early last year to impeach Trump for his role in instigating the invasion of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. While Cheney faces what polls show is almost certain defeat in her bid for a fourth two-year term representing Wyoming’s at-large seat, Murkowski is certain to clear her first hurdle and advance to November’s general election. Also in the spotlight in Tuesday’s contests — former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — the 2008 GOP running mate and onetime darling of the right is seeking to fill a vacant House seat. CHENEY, FACING ALMOST CRUEL DEFEAT IN WYOMING GOP PRIMARY, EYES BIGGER BATTLE AHEAD Rep. Liz Cheney speaks with constituents on Wyoming’s Wind River Reservation, July 16, 2022 (Liz Cheney Re-election Campaign) Cheney was the most senior of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach the then-president on charges of inciting the deadly attack on Capitol Hill, which was carried out by far-right extremists and other Trump supporters who aimed to disrupt the President’s confirmation in Congress Biden’s Electoral College victory in the 2020 election. The conservative lawmaker and defense hawk was immediately verbally attacked by Trump and his allies, and in May of last year, she was ousted as the number three leader of the Republican House. TRUMP JOINED BY DICK CHENEY AS FORMER VICE PRESIDENT STARS IN DAUGHTER’S COMMERCIAL CAMPAIGN Cheney stresses the importance of defending the nation’s democratic process and putting country above party, and is one of only two Republicans serving on a special select committee set up by House Democrats investigating the rebellion on Capitol Hill. The commission has made headlines and garnered a lot of national attention this summer as it held televised hearings. Trump, stepping up his efforts to oust Cheney from Congress, endorsed Harriet Hageman as she entered the Wyoming race last summer. The former president and his allies successfully persuaded some, but not all, of the other anti-Cheney candidates to drop out of the primary and rally around Hageman. The latest polls suggest Cheney will likely be crushed Tuesday by Hageman in a state where Trump won a whopping 70 percent of the vote in 2020. Republican congressional candidate Harriet Hageman campaigns at the Goshen County Fair Parade in Torrington, Wyoming on August 4, 2022 (Congresswoman Hageman Campaign) But Cheney — in comments made in recent weeks — seems at ease that the potential primary outcome is a price she must pay to succeed in her biggest fight against Trump. “I’m working hard to win every vote,” Cheney said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday” late last month. He stressed: “Given the choice between keeping my seat in the House of Representatives on the one hand or ensuring the survival of our constitutional democracy and making sure the American people know the truth about Donald Trump, I will choose the Constitution and true every day. of the week and twice on Sunday”. FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: MCCARTHY TARGETS CHENEY IN PRIMARY Cheney, in her closing video to Wyoming voters, aimed to strongly support her primary challenge to Trump’s repeated unsubstantiated claims that his loss to Biden in the 2020 polls was due to “massive voter fraud” and “rigged ” and “stolen” elections. “Like many candidates in this country, my opponents in Wyoming said the 2020 election was rigged and stolen. No one who understands our nation’s laws, no one with an honest, fair, genuine commitment to our Constitution would say that .It is a cancer that threatens our great Republic,” Cheney argued. Hageman, who got a boost when Trump held a rally on her behalf in Wyoming in late May, has repeatedly charged that “Liz Cheney has long forgotten that she works for Wyoming, not Radical Democrats. Wyoming deserves an MP who will represent us AND our conservative values It’s time for elitist Liz Cheney to retire.” Cheney’s Tuesday night concession speech is likely to be closely watched by political analysts for signs that her anti-Trump crusade could turn into a potential race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, four decided not to seek another term in Congress. Of the six running for re-election, three have been defeated in GOP primaries, with two more advancing in November thanks in part to their participation in nonpartisan primaries, where the top two finishers qualified regardless of party affiliation. Seven Senate Republicans joined the 50 Democrats in voting to convict Trump in his February 2021 Senate impeachment trial, where he was acquitted. Of those seven, Alaska’s Murkowski is the only one running for re-election this year. GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski poses for a photo with supporters in Talkeetna, Alaska on August 13, 2022. (Lisa Murkowski’s re-election campaign) Murkowski’s call for Trump to resign after the attack on Capitol Hill and her vote to convict Trump on charges of inciting the attack were not the first times she drew his ire. The senator voted against a Republican-backed plan in 2017 to repeal the national health care law known as ObamaCare, and a year later she opposed Trump’s nomination of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. VISIT THE FOX NEWS VOTING CENTER FOR THE LATEST PRIMARY RESULTS Trump has repeatedly targeted the senator and last year endorsed Murkowski’s primary GOP challenger, former Alaska Commissioner of Administration Kelly Tshibaka. Trump traveled to Alaska a month ago to lead a rally for Tshibaka. Republican Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka marches in the Bear Paw Parade in Eagle River, Alaska on July 16, 2022. (Kelly Tshibaka Senate Campaign) Unlike Cheney, Murkowski enjoys the support of the Senate GOP leadership. He is backed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s re-election arm, which has long helped Republican incumbents run for re-election. Powerful Senate GOP leader Sen. Mitch McConnell and his political team are backing Murkowski, as is the McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund, the top outsider super PAC supporting Senate Republicans. Also helping Murkowski – Alaskans, on a ballot last year, changed the way they conducted their elections. They abolished party primaries and implemented a process where the top four vote-getters in non-partisan primaries would advance to the general election, where ranked-choice voting would be used to determine the winner. Murkowski, who has never won a majority in her Senate race, is no stranger to tough contests. After losing the 2010 GOP primary to Tea Party-backed Joe Miller, he launched a write-in campaign and successfully won the general election. Murkowski told Fox News on Saturday that she is confident “the people of Alaska will return me to the United States Senate.” CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORT FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL During her interview, she argued that “the problem we have is that Donald Trump, when he was in office, failed to uphold the Constitution of the United States. To me it’s quite simple.” Tshibaka, taking aim at Murkowski, told Fox News on Sunday that “we need a senator who will vote for what’s in the best interest of Alaska and not tell us one thing and then do the opposite in DC.” Alaskans will also vote Tuesday in a three-way special election to fill the seat left vacant by the March death of GOP Rep. Don Young, who was the longest-serving member of the Chamber. Republican U.S. House candidate and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks as former President Trump looks on during a rally at the Alaska Airlines Center on July 9, 2022 in Anchorage, Alaska. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, File) Palin, who is backed by Trump, faces Republican businessman Nick Begich and Democrat and tribal activist Mary Peltola. Palin took first place in the June primary, with 27 percent, followed by Begitz with 19 percent. The contest will be the first in Alaska to use ranking–choice voting. Under the system, voters are allowed to rank all candidates in order of preference on the ballot. If no candidate wins a majority, the last-place candidates are eliminated and their supporters’ votes are redistributed based on those voters’ second-place choice. Maine, in 2018, was the first state to use ranked-choice voting in federal elections. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Palin, Begich and Peltola are also the frontrunners in a simultaneous primary on Tuesday in the race to serve the next two years in Congress. Fox News’ Jonathan Hunt, Jon Rule and Jake Karalexis contributed to this report. Paul Steinhauser is a political reporter based in New Hampshire.
