WaPo Columnist Urges Democrats to Save Liz Cheney from Primary Defeat 

Representative Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming, arrives to a hearing of the Select C
Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Wendell Husebo

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. urged Democrats on Thursday to save Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) from defeat in the Republican primary on August 16 against former President Donald Trump-endorsed Harriet Hageman.

Noting that Cheney is well behind in the polls, by 30 points, Dionne Jr. wrote in the Daily Star that the endangered Democrat ally “needs” all the help she can get from the Democrat party in the open GOP primary.

“Vote for Cheney. Now there is a sentence I never expected to write,” Dionne Jr. wrote before observing that Cheney’s participation in the partisan January 6 Committee has hurt her chances of remaining in Congress.

“She has long known what the Star-Tribune poll found: that her eloquent leading role in the hearings investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection — poised to reach a climactic point last Thursday — hurt her with the party faithful back home,” Dionne Jr. said.

The polling revealed Cheney may have politically miscalculated by obsessing over Trump, a political figure who is popular in Wyoming. In 2020, Trump won the Cowboy State, receiving nearly 70 percent of the vote. Fifty-four percent of voters are less likely to support Cheney after her tangling with Trump on the committee.

“Whether or not their efforts sustain Cheney,” Dionne Jr. said of Democrats, “they would send a message for November: that the threat to democracy is the most important issue on the ballot.”

While Dionne Jr. has urged Democrats to save Cheney, CNN reported Cheney’s popularity among Democrats may not help her win the GOP primary.

“We shouldn’t mistake adoring press coverage and bipartisan bona fides for popularity in the place where popularity matters most for Cheney: Wyoming,” CNN’s Harry Enten analyzed. “A look at the data reveals that Cheney should be regarded as the clear underdog in her efforts to retain her seat.”

The Democrats’ support of Cheney may backfire. Ed Kilgore of New York magazine has opined Cheney’s alliance with Democrats is almost certain to defeat her in the primary race. “You could argue that Cheney’s reelection goose was cooked January 13, 2021, the day she voted for Trump’s second impeachment,” Kilgore wrote Monday. “But her descent from the House Republican leadership to almost certain defeat in an August 16 primary in Wyoming has had a number of dramatic moments.”

Throughout the primary campaign, Cheney has remained in Washington, DC, fundraising among Hilary Clinton and former President Barack Obama donors and soliciting votes from Democrats.

Local voters have taken notice of Cheney’s absence in the Cowboy State. “She doesn’t live here, for starters. She doesn’t really represent us,” voter Sally O’Brien told Yahoo News of Cheney. “She says she’s a constitutionalist, but she doesn’t believe in justice for all, only for the Jan. 6 people.”

Cheney’s alliance with Democrats has drawn ire from the Wyoming Republican Party and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The Wyoming GOP voted in November to no longer recognize her as a Republican, and McCarthy announced in February his endorsement of Hageman to defeat Cheney, a rare move for a minority leader.

JACKSON, WY - JUNE 14: Republican congressional candidate Harriet Hageman meets attendees at a rally at the Teton County Fair & Rodeo Grounds on June 14, 2022 in Jackson, Wyoming. Hageman, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is running against Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) in the August 16 GOP primary. (Photo by Natalie Behring/Getty Images)

Congressional candidate Harriet Hageman meets attendees at a rally at the Teton County Fair & Rodeo Grounds on June 14, 2022, in Jackson, Wyoming. Hageman, who has been endorsed by Donald Trump, is running against Liz Cheney in Wyoming’s primary this August (Photo by Natalie Behring/Getty Images)

According to the polls, Hageman is leading in the polls by 28 and 30 points. PredictIt’s betting odds on Friday show Hageman is favored to handily defeat Cheney by 95 cents on the dollar. Cheney’s odds of winning the contest are pegged at 5 cents on the dollar.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. 

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