Top Republican Trump critic Cheney loses seat in US Congress
Republican rebel Liz Cheney lost her seat in Congress Tuesday to an election conspiracy theorist, US media projected, in the latest sign of her party’s break with traditional conservatism to embrace Donald Trump’s hardline “America First” agenda.
Once considered Republican royalty, the lawmaker from Wyoming has become a pariah in the party over her membership of the congressional panel investigating the January 6 assault on the US Capitol — and Trump’s role in fanning the flames.
Defeat for the 56-year-old elder daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney in the Wyoming Republican primary marks the end of the family’s four-decade political association with one of America’s most conservative states.
The Republican nomination to contest November’s midterms instead goes to 59-year-old lawyer Harriet Hageman — Trump’s hand-picked candidate who has amplified his false claims of a “rigged” 2020 election.
But there is already speculation that Cheney may challenge Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 — or even run as an independent — and insiders are expecting her to deliver a concession speech in the next hour that will double up as the launchpad for her political future.
