"She has to be a national candidate to keep speaking out on the podium," he said. Paul Vogelheim said. A Republican candidate for the Wyoming Legislature who attended Cheney's concession speech. Vogelheim predicted that if Cheney ran for her 2024 run, she would stick to the Republican presidential primary, and she recalled her "strong" vow not to change party.
It's no surprise Cheney is running for office: She's fueled speculation over her next step for more than a year, with her fellow House Republicans voicing her support from the leadership. She ran for the White House because she started planning to evict. And the way she campaigned for the House of Representatives, putting out national ads that seemed to speak beyond Wyoming's conservative voters and boosting her coffers, she's already looking beyond her own state.
In the end, she lost by the overwhelming margin most polls predict. Kevin McCarthy, poised to claim that the orator's gavel was once thought to be a possible prize for Cheney himself, is investigating Trump at the election committee on Jan. 6. Called it a "referendum" for her job alongside Democrats . But her other colleagues thought she was looking beyond her own major battle.
"You can say anything about Liz, but she's not naive. She knows exactly what she's doing," said Rep. ND) said in an interview late last week. She said, "She thinks Liz is running the race she wants to run."
Her next steps against Trump all come with risks. She could run in the Republican primary and make a play that would bring him to his knees before the general election, but the strategy put her in a foil Someone who helps Trump motivate his base.
The 56-year-old launched a third-party campaign in hopes of alienating voters from Mr. You can also grab a page from Ross Perot's playbook. In 1992, Perot became the most successful third-party candidate in modern American history, winning 19% of the vote in a campaign run on a platform of fiscal conservatism and socialism.
Former President George H.W. Bush later accused his fellow Texan of siphoning Republican votes to turn Bill Clinton into the White House. condemned. Several polls at the time indicated that Perot was likely to be more evenly supported by the two main party candidates, but the potential for taking votes away from the swing. There is no guarantee that one third-party ticket will not benefit Trump as well. Voters and Democrats who want a candidate other than President Joe Biden
Indeed, Cheney's stoic concession speech on Tuesday night would have left the passage she already won. Beyond the crossed allies, Capitol Hill, who seemed to have won her new Democratic fan base, and scores of Wyoming Democrats who crossed over to vote for her on Tuesday. (As Republicans often point out, her seat on the committee on January 6 came directly from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.)
"All policy differences are Aside, @Liz_Cheney will now forever be known as an American hero.” tweeted Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel
There are limits. Scott Horn, 65, was one of the Wyoming Democrats who changed her registration to endorse Cheney. Horn, who voted Tuesday morning in Jackson, the bluest part of the state, called her decision to stand against Trump and her party "brave."
But a House preliminary vote against Cheney is as far as he's willing to go, especially given her remaining conservative stance on abortion. I'm going back to the Democratic Party,' and I can't support her if she runs for president.
Cheney's supporters say she won't run for president if she thinks she will help Trump rather than hurt him. Still, with the loss of her House seat, there is little other avenue to keep her eyes on her mission to keep him out of public office.
The bipartisan group No Labels, which works closely with the House Problem Solvers Caucus, is a centrist It is looking to participate in the 2024 presidential election with the large amount of money it has already raised to support candidatesCheney's name, according to three sources close to the group's discussions. is among the candidates considering putting in some of the $50 million cash, with some suggesting her as a potential vice-presidential candidate for candidates like Senator Joe Manchin. . (D-W.V.).
It has been clear for weeks that Cheney's political destiny is intertwined with that of Trump, wherever she lands in the 2024 election.
After pledging last year toPOLITICO that "I will not lose my seat," Cheney's tone has changed recently, acknowledging the inevitability of defeat to Hagemann. . Throughout the summer, she remained focused on her January 6th select panel work. And Cassidy, who last month testified before a committee under apparent personal strain, gave sharp admiration to young women like Hutchinson and Sarah Matthews.
When Cheney described Hutchinson, then Trump's former White House aide, she made the same subtle but unmistakable comparison to the Lincoln reference she made Tuesday night.
Hutchinson "always knew he would be attacked by President Trump and men in their 50s, 60s and 70s who hide behind executive privilege," Cheney said last month. rice field. "But. She was brave and did it anyway.
Most other incumbent Republicans see her as a failed martyr of the anti-Trump movement within their party. Senate Minority Even House Leader Mitch McConnell — some supporters pushed back after pro-Trump forces in the RNC accused her and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois) earlier this year. The former president is counterproductive, according to his book, This Will Not Pass.
And some of her longtime house friends only quietly admit they still like Cheney, even if they disagree with what she was doing.
"I miss being lectured and disrespected about the Constitution," Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) quipped on Friday about her potential campaign ouster.
So Cheney continues to look for a place for the Republican Party, which is still dominated by Trump. . Surveys and other legal clouds. But her supporters are left with plenty of time to pave her way out of the Republican wilderness.
Her 75-year-old Stuart Thompson, who claims to be a longtime friend of former Vice President Dick Cheney, is one of the few people in her county to hang a Cheney sign outside her home. said to be one.
"Right now, I don't see a way for her to be the Republican nominee," admitted Thompson. "But I hope there are enough regular Republicans. Reagan Republicans, whatever you want to call them, I hope that somehow they can come together and rejoin the party." Somehow."
Sarah Ferris contributed to this report.