Meanwhile, former Gov. Sarah Palin is attempting a political comeback in a special election for the state's only House seat. .
Trump to purge party rivals Conclusion
Trump and his allies have spent the spring and summer turning the Republican primary into a bitter battle in which loyalty to the former president is a central element. .
He lost several high-profile battles, including in Georgia, where Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Ravensperger held off a pro-Trump challenger.
Cheney chose to fight Trump
But her strategy was to convince Republican voters in states where the former president won by a margin of 43 percent in 2020 to antagonize him. , suggesting that you made a different choice. downswing.
Chaney, who was surrounded by Capitol police during the campaign, opted for a smaller, closed-door event rather than a rally. She denounced Trump in a TV interview.
Her election night event was at the Jackson Hole ranch, with the sun setting over the Grand Tetons in the background, and no TV screens for her supporters to see the tallied results of the race. . Cheney was almost certain. lose.
She told her supporters that she could stand by Trump and do the same thing she did in the primary election two years ago. So she won with 73% of the vote.
"That was the path I couldn't and wouldn't take," Cheney said. and I was well aware of the potential political consequences of following my duties.”
Taking advantage of the high-profile House primary spotlight Mr. Cheney's decision to beat Mr. Trump by force has never been triumphant in Wyoming. But it endeared her to some of her anti-Trump donors and positioned her as the Republican Party's toughest critic of Trump.
What's next for Cheney?
But she used her speech to foretell that the fight against Trump would continue, but did not explain exactly what that meant.
"I have been saying since January 6th that I will do whatever it takes to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office again. to fight against,' she said.
"I'm a conservative Republican. But I love my country more. I'm begging you to join me tonight. When I leave here, Republicans, Let the Democrats, the Independents, resolve to unite against those who would destroy our Republic."
As she left the stage, Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down' rang out.
I'm waiting for Alaska results, how long will it take?
But it will be weeks before she wins the runoff against Republican businessman Nick Begich III and Democratic former state legislator Mary Peltra. deaf.
This special election is the first in Alaska to use the state's new Ranked Choice voting system. CNN predicted that none of the three candidates would get more than 50% of her votes in the first round. This means the state will count her second-choice votes on August 31st.
The ranked selection system said Palin's decision to step down in the middle of her term as governor in 2009 still angered many of the state's voters. increase. Begich III is the Republican scion of Alaska's most famous Democratic political family, with his grandfather Nick Begich serving as a state legislator until his plane went missing in 1972, and his uncle Mark He. Begic served as a senator.
In her second election for the same seat,
Republican Tara Sweeney, an Alaskan Native who is backed by the state's leading Native-owned businesses, placed fifth in the June special primary and won the November general election. She could be on the 4th maturity.