House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has endorsed attorney Harriet Hageman in her 2022 midterm primary challenge against Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney.
The California Republican’s embrace of Hageman follows former President Donald Trump endorsing her in a bid to unseat a leading Republican on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“After spending time with Harriet, it is readily apparent she will always listen and prioritize the needs of her local communities and is focused on tackling our nation’s biggest problems,” McCarthy told the Federalist. “I look forward to serving with Harriet for years to come.”
Cheney’s team shrugged off the endorsement. Jeremy Adler, a Cheney spokesman, told the Washington Examiner that Hageman “must be really desperate.”
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When Trump endorsed Hageman last fall, the former president said she has “my Complete and Total Endorsement in replacing the Democrats number one provider of sound bites, Liz Cheney.” Hageman told the Washington Examiner in an interview the same month that Cheney “betrayed Wyoming” and “betrayed me.”
Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has faced backlash within the Republican Party after she joined nine other House Republicans in voting to impeach Trump in connection to the Capitol riot, a move that led to her losing her No. 3 position in the House Republican leadership in May. The Wyoming GOP voted to censure Cheney over the vote.
More recently, the Republican National Committee adopted a censure resolution against Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the only two GOP members of the Jan. 6 committee, in part because of their participation in the panel formed to investigate the Capitol riot.
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McCarthy said members of the RNC “have a right to do their resolution and what they wanted.”
Wyoming GOP leaders moved to allow the RNC to support Hageman on a financial basis this month. The move prompted outrage from the Cheney campaign and other candidates in the race, who paint the move to declare a nominee months ahead of the Aug. 16 primary as “un-American” and “trying to play a trick on the voters.”
