‘I’ll Take Wyoming’s Support Any Day’: Harriet Hageman Slams Kevin Costner’s Endorsement of Liz Cheney

Donald Trump-endorsed Harriet Hageman on Wednesday slammed Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-WY) Hollywood endorsement from Kevin Costner ahead of the Republican primary, where they will face off on August 16.

“Yellowstone is a good show, but Kevin Costner is a pretend rancher in a Hollywood production shot mostly in Montana, not Wyoming,” Hageman told the Daily Mail in reference to a TV show starring Costner.

“And I’d bet that if he had to work a real ranch for a day, he’d call his agent to get him out of there,” she said. “I’ll take the support of the people of Wyoming any day of the week over a liberal actor who voted for Joe Biden.”

While Wyoming congresswoman Cheney has found support among the famous, wealthy, and well-connected uniparty in recent weeks, Costner’s endorsement of Cheney underscored her reliance on outside-Wyoming support of the rich and famous to remain in power.

Republicans took Cheney to task for the “leftwing carpetbagger from Hollywood” endorsing “a leftwing carpetbagger from Virginia” who does “Pelosi’s dirty work”:

The endorsement comes as Cheney is struggling to remain within 30 points of Hageman in statewide polling. “The big story is Liz Cheney is going to get beat,” Brad Coker, managing director of the polling firm Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, said, reflecting on a primary poll released in June. “That’s a foregone conclusion.”

Cheney’s downward trend seems to be due to her fixation on former President Donald Trump and her participation on the partisan January 6 Committee in Washington, DC, where she has remained almost 2,000 miles away from Wyoming.

“[H]er animus toward Trump is rooted in resentment for stealing the GOP out from under her and other members of the old establishment,” Johnathan Tobin wrote in Newsweek. “Already out of touch with the base because of her enthusiasm for disastrous wars and distinct lack of interest in the social and economic issues that grassroots Republicans care about, Cheney’s hopes to continue as a party leader were already finished.”

Cheney’s position against Trump and America First has not gone over well with Republicans. The Wyoming Republican Party has “excommunicated” Cheney by no longer recognizing her as a Republican. Cheney has lost the support of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who have endorsed Hageman.

If Cheney loses the August 16 primary, only three impeachment Republicans will likely remain in the House. A total of ten Republicans, including Cheney, voted to impeach Trump in 2021.

According to PredictIt odds, Cheney has only a 2 cent chance on the dollar of winning. Trump-endorsed Harriet Hageman is favored by 99 cents on the dollar. Polling also shows Cheney well behind Hageman, by about 30 points.