Wyoming GOP votes to no longer recognize Rep. Liz Cheney as a Republican
Savannah BehrmannWASHINGTON – The Republican party of Wyoming will no longer consider their sole U.S. House lawmaker, Rep. Liz Cheney, as a member of the GOP, the latest reprimand for Cheney, who is a consistent critic of former President Donald Trump.
She was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in January following the insurrection attempt on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by a mob of his supporters who were attempting to halt the counting of electoral votes, which found Joe Biden to be the victor of the 2020 presidential election.
Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has repeatedly defended her vote to impeach Trump. Last week, she reupped her battle with the former president, calling him a "dangerous and irrational man" who is at "war with the rule of law and the Constitution."
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Cheney's press secretary, Jeremy Adler, told USA TODAY in a statement that it is "laughable to suggest Liz is anything but a committed conservative Republican."
"She is bound by her oath to the Constitution," he continued. "Sadly, a portion of the Wyoming GOP leadership has abandoned that fundamental principle, and instead allowed themselves to be held hostage to the lies of a dangerous and irrational man."
The 31-29 vote Saturday in Buffalo, Wyoming, by the state party central committee followed votes by local GOP officials in about one-third of Wyoming’s 23 counties to no longer recognize Cheney as a Republican.
The Wyoming Republican Party also voted in February to censure Cheney for her vote to impeach Trump.
She was ousted from House Republican leadership as the chair of the House GOP conference in May for her criticism of Trump.
“I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office,” she said after she was stripped her of her leadership post, the third most powerful GOP slot in the House.
Despite her criticism of Trump, Cheney remains one of the most conservative members of Congress. She has a 96% positivity rating from the conservative Heritage Foundation, which rates lawmakers based on their voting records' alignment with the think tank's political arm. According to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight, Cheney voted in line with Trump 92.9% of the time while he was in office.
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However, Cheney is now facing at least four Republican opponents in the 2022 primary, including attorney Harriet Hageman, who Trump has endorsed.
The Casper Star-Tribune, which first reported the news of the Wyoming GOP's decision, reported that Hageman called the latest state GOP central committee vote “fitting.”
“Liz Cheney stopped recognizing what Wyomingites care about a long time ago," Hageman said, according to the Star-Tribune. "When she launched her war against President Trump, she completely broke with where we are as a state.”
Cheney is now serving as co-chair of the House select committee investigating the events leading up to and surrounding Jan. 6. She and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., are the only Republicans on the committee.
Contributing: The Associated Press; Ledge King, Jeanine Santucci, David Jackson, USA TODAY
