Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday won perhaps his biggest victory in his quest for revenge against Republicans who voted to impeach him when Harriet Hageman defeated Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) in the GOP race for Wyoming’s at-large congressional seat.
The political victory for Trump comes as he faces new scrutiny over the FBI’s search of his Mar-a-Lago property and as he hints at but has not announced a third bid for the White House.
CHENEY TAKES AIM AT TRUMP IN CONCESSION SPEECH, SAYS ‘THE REAL WORK BEGINS’ NOW
Cheney, one of just two Republicans on the House select committee investigating the events surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and one of 10 who voted to impeach him, stood firm in a concession speech Tuesday evening, arguing that she would have had to “go along with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election” in order to win her primary and vowing to work to keep Trump out of the White House should he seek another term.
In a post on his social media website Truth Social, Trump wrote, “This is a wonderful result for America, and a complete rebuke of the Unselect Committee of political Hacks and Thugs.”
“Liz Cheney should be ashamed of herself, the way she acted, and her spiteful, sanctimonious words and actions towards others,” Trump wrote. “Now she can finally disappear into the depths of political oblivion where, I am sure, she will be much happier than she is right now. Thank you WYOMING!”
Trump launched a largely successful effort to drive out congressional Republicans who backed his second impeachment.
Cheney, perhaps Trump’s most vocal and most prominent Republican critic, joins three others in the group of 10 to lose primaries in the wake of their impeachment votes: Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), Peter Meijer (R-MI), and Tom Rice (R-SC). Four others — Reps. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH), John Katko (R-NY), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), and Fred Upton (R-MI) — will not seek reelection.
Just two of the group, Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and David Valadao (R-CA), won their primaries and will compete for reelection in November.
The fate of Republicans who backed impeachment largely centers on the House this cycle rather than the seven senators who voted to convict Trump, as members of the House hold two-year terms rather than six in the Senate, leaving them to face any electoral music on a faster scale.
Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Pat Toomey (R-PA), who would have been up for reelection this cycle, are not seeking another term, while Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is expected to advance to the general election under Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system. The others have not yet faced primary voters. Assuming they seek reelection, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) will run in 2024, while Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Ben Sasse (R-NE) would do so in 2026.
Trump has also sought to prop up candidates for state offices overseeing elections who have embraced his baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
Trump’s chosen candidates have mostly been successful in GOP primaries, in part because in some races, he waited to make key endorsements until a clear front-runner emerged from the field, appearing to select the candidate most likely to win his or her race in order to shore up his kingmaker credentials.
But there have been some stumbles and failures in his efforts, most notably in Georgia, a crucial swing state central to Trump’s unfounded claims of systemic fraud.
Republican officials in that state, Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, worked to certify the Peach State’s election results despite pressure from Trump and his allies.
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Trump backed primary challengers to both men: former Sen. David Purdue and Rep. Jody Hice. Purdue and Hice each lost their bids in May.
