Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, a leader of the Republican resistance to former President Donald Trump, is fighting to save her seat in the U.S. House on Tuesday as voters consider the direction of the GOP. Cheney is bracing for a loss to a Trump-backed challenger in the state he won by the largest margin during the 2020 campaign. Win or lose, the 56-year-old daughter of a vice president vows to remain an active presence in national politics as she considers a 2024 presidential bid. In the short term, though, Cheney faces a formidable threat from Republican challenger Harriet Hageman, a Cheyenne ranching industry attorney who has harnessed the full fury of the Trump movement in its bid to oust Cheney from the House. “Today, regardless of the outcome, is certainly the beginning of a battle that will continue,” Cheney told CBS News after casting her vote Tuesday, alongside her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney. “We are facing a moment where our democracy is truly under attack and threatened. And those of us across the board — Republicans, Democrats and independents who believe deeply in freedom and care about the Constitution and the future of the country — have an obligation to set the above part.” Many Wyoming voters don’t seem to agree with the three-term Republican congresswoman. “We like Trump. He tried to impeach Trump,” Cheyenne voter Chester Barkel said of Cheney. “I don’t trust Liz Cheney.” And in Jackson, Republican voter Dan Winter said he felt betrayed. “Over 70 percent of the state of Wyoming voted Republican in the last presidential election and she turned right and voted against us,” said Winter, a hotel manager. “He was our representative, not hers.” Tuesday’s contests in Wyoming and Alaska offer one of the final tests for Trump and his hardline politics ahead of November’s general election. So far, the former president has largely dominated the race to mold the GOP in his image, having helped install loyalists in key general election races from Arizona to Georgia to Pennsylvania. This week’s contests come just eight days after the FBI executed a search warrant at Trump’s Florida estate, recovering 11 sets of classified files. Some were labeled “sensitive apartment information,” a special category meant to protect the nation’s most important secrets. The Republican Party initially rallied behind the former president, though reaction was somewhat mixed as more details emerged. In Alaska, a recent change in state election law gives a recurring Trump critic, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a chance to survive the former president’s wrath, even after she voted to convict him in his second impeachment trial. She is the only Senate Republican running for re-election this year who supported impeachment of Trump. Alaska’s top four Senate candidates, regardless of party, will advance to the November general election, where voters will rank them in order of preference. In all, seven Republican senators and 10 Republican members of the House joined every Democrat in supporting Trump’s impeachment in the days after his supporters stormed Capitol Hill as Congress sought to certify President Joe Biden’s victory. Just two of those 10 House members won GOP primaries this year. The rest lost or declined to run for re-election. Cheney would be just the third to return to Congress if she defies expectations Tuesday. Murkowski faces 18 challengers — the most prominent of whom is Republican Kelly Tshibaka, who has been endorsed by Trump — in her push to retain a seat she’s held for nearly 20 years. On the other side of the GOP stage, Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate, is hoping to spark a political comeback on Tuesday. He’s actually on the ballot twice Tuesday: once in a special election to complete the term of former Rep. Don Young and another for a full two-year House term that begins in January. Back in Wyoming, Cheney’s political survival may depend on getting enough Democrats to vote in her Republican primary. While some Democrats have rallied behind her, it’s unclear whether there are enough in the state to make a difference. As of August 1, 2022, there were 285,000 registered voters in Wyoming, including 40,000 Democrats and 208,000 Republicans. Ardath Junge, of Cheyenne, said she recently changed her registration from Democrat to Republican. “I did it just to vote for Cheney because I believe in what she’s doing,” said Jung, a retired teacher. Many Republicans in the state — and the country — have effectively excommunicated Cheney because of her outspoken criticism of Trump. The House GOP ousted her as the No. 3 House leader last year. And more recently, the Wyoming GOP and the Republican National Committee criticized her. Anti-Trump groups like U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s Country First PAC and the Republican Accountability Project have worked to encourage independents and Democrats to support Cheney in recent weeks. They are clearly disappointed by the expected outcome of Tuesday’s election, although some are optimistic about her political future. “What’s remarkable is that in the face of almost certain defeat he never wavered,” said Sarah Longwell, executive director of the Republican Accountability Project. “We’ve been watching a national American figure being rigged. It’s funny how small the election — the Wyoming election — feels because it feels bigger than it is now.” Cheney has seemingly welcomed defeat by devoting nearly every resource at her disposal to ending Trump’s political career since the insurgency. He emerged as a leader on the congressional committee investigating Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack, giving the Democratic-led panel genuine bipartisan credibility. She has also spent the vast majority of her time in committee instead of campaigning back home, a decision that still fuels murmurs of disapproval among some Wyoming allies. And he closed the campaign trail with an unwavering anti-Trump message. “There is nothing more important that she will ever do than lead the effort to make sure that Donald Trump is never near the Oval Office again,” Dick Cheney said in a recent ad produced by his daughter’s campaign. Cheney’s allies struggled to keep up hope in the hours before the polls closed. “I’m still hoping the poll numbers are wrong,” said Landon Brown, a Wyoming state representative and vocal Cheney ally. “It will be a real shame if he loses. It shows how much of a stranglehold Donald Trump has on the Republican Party.”
