Despite her conservative credentials and partisan pedigree, her role as Trump’s chief GOP critic on Capitol Hill has made her a heavy underdog in a state the former president won with nearly 70 percent of the vote in 2020. His enduring popularity there, coupled with Cheney’s role as the vice chairman of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, made the quarterly congresswoman and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney a top target for Trump allies. Trump’s grip on the GOP has been proven time and time again since he left Washington. But Cheney’s loss, while widely expected, represents an important marker in the broader struggle over the direction of the Republican Party. Once considered an up-and-comer in the party, she was ousted from the GOP House leadership last year because of her staunch opposition to the former president and has been lagging in the polls at home this year. With Wyoming’s vote, Cheney becomes the fourth House Republican to vote to impeach Trump only to lose her primary. Another four were not candidates for another term. The two survivors to date, California and Washington, have benefited from their states’ nonpartisan primary system. Cheney had no such cushion, although a late push for Democrats and independents to register in the GOP primary may have softened the final tally somewhat. Top Republicans on Capitol Hill have rallied around Hageman, who has embraced Trump’s false allegations of voter fraud and called the 2020 race “rigged.” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, another Hageman supporter, said Monday during an appearance on Fox News that the Wyoming election “will be a referendum on the Jan. 6 commission.” Cheney’s focus on the committee’s work and her unwavering commitment to do, in her words, “what I can to make sure (Trump) never gets near the Oval Office again” set her apart from the small group. of GOP colleagues who also voted. for impeachment and seek re-election. What her promise entails in practice remains to be seen, but chatter about a 2024 presidential election has already begun. In one of her final messages to voters ahead of the primary, in a video titled “The Great Task,” Cheney sought to raise the stakes, which she says extend far beyond Wyoming’s borders. “The lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is insidious. It is being circulated by those who love their country,” Cheney says. “It is a door that Donald Trump has opened to manipulate Americans into abandoning their principles, sacrificing their freedom, justifying violence, ignoring the decisions of our courts and the rule of law. This is Donald Trump’s legacy — but it cannot be our nation’s future.” Cheney is expected to reinforce that message when she addresses supporters Tuesday night, advisers told CNN’s Jeff Zeleny — saying she is only at the “beginning of the battle,” even if she loses. Cheney’s advisers said she would not definitively address speculation about a presidential run, but may provide some clarity on her near-term plans, which could include creating a super PAC to support conservative anti-Trump candidates or creating a think tank to offset the rise of Trumpism within the party. The qualifying result, she plans to say in a speech she has worked on with her parents, is what she will wear as a “badge of conviction,” according to advisers.
Sarah Palin appears to be making a comeback in Alaska
If Cheney is threatened with being thrown into the wilderness of her party, a prominent figure from her recent past is hoping to make a comeback after a decade off the ballot. Former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, whose rise heralded the party’s Trump era, returns to the ballot Tuesday. In this new iteration, she is the Trump-endorsed candidate in a three-deep field vying to fill the remaining seat of late GOP Rep. Don Young. Palin, who resigned as governor in 2009, is up against Nick Begich III, the Republican scion of the state’s most famous Democratic family, in the special election, and former Democratic state Rep. Mary Peltola, who was endorsed by independent Al Gross. dropped out of the race despite making it to the final four. If none of the three active candidates secures a majority of the vote, the election will be decided by a first-choice count that begins at the end of the month. The three special candidates — along with nearly 20 other candidates, most notably Republican Tara Sweeney — are also participating in a concurrent primary that will determine the four finalists for the November election that will decide who wins the at-large House seat for the next full term.
The GOP senator who voted to impeach Trump is facing constituents
While Cheney’s fate in Wyoming has grabbed most of the headlines, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, also faces new competition this year fueled by a lack of loyalty to former President. Unlike Cheney, however, Murkowski — herself the last of a proud statewide political dynasty — is a better bet to overcome the forces stacked against her. That’s largely due to Alaska’s nonpartisan top-four primary, which, like the House race, sends the top four candidates to the general election, which will be decided by ranked-choice voting if no one gets a majority. That process should help Murkowski against Trump-backed challenger Kelly Tshibaka, the former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Management. Murkowski previously had widespread support, across party lines, in a state that elected her father, Frank Murkowski, first to the Senate and then as governor. He then appointed his daughter to her current seat in 2002. When he was defeated in a 2010 primary during the tea party wave, Murkowski launched a write-in campaign and defeated GOP candidate Joe Miller in the fall. The state primary also includes some familiar names: Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy and independent former Gov. Bill Walker, who likely would have lost to Dunleavy in his 2018 re-election bid had he not dropped out shortly before the election and endorsed Democrat Mark Begich. Dunleavy, now seeking a second term, won the one-on-one matchup by less than 10 points.
