‘Traitor’ Liz Cheney walloped by Wyoming voters for Harris endorsement, break with GOP
Former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney officially endorsed Vice President Harris for the Oval Office, breaking from the GOP to hit the campaign trail with the Democrat ticket in the key battleground state of Wisconsin last week.
Fox News Digital traveled to Casper, Wyoming, over the weekend to speak to voters about their thoughts on the upcoming election and Cheney snubbing the Republican presidential ticket in favor of endorsing Harris this cycle. Voters in the Cowboy State overwhelmingly admonished Cheney for the endorsement, with some slamming her as a “traitor” and “turncoat.”
“I’m not impressed with that at all,” Clark Johnson told Fox News Digital when asked about his thoughts on Cheney campaigning with Harris last week in Wisconsin.
“I think it’s ridiculous. I think she’s a traitor to the country,” another Wyomingite, Gunner Berg, said of the campaign event.
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Gunner Berg speaks with Fox News Digital about the election. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
Cheney, who is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, is a vocal critic of former President Trump, putting her at odds with the Republican Party and her former constituents, who overwhelmingly supported Trump in his 2016 and 2020 elections. Wyoming is again expected to vote red this election.
The vast majority of voters who spoke to Fox Digital from Casper said they are no fan of Cheney’s and that she would unlikely hold another elected office in Wyoming due to her politics.
“I’m definitely not a fan, and it definitely kind of turned some tables there,” Dillon Sigman said, adding that he does not believe Cheney could again successfully run for office in Wyoming.
Wyoming voter “Ralph” speaks with Fox News Digital about the election and former Rep. Liz Cheney. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
“I think Liz Cheney, who originally was a Wyoming person that moved to Connecticut and then returned to Wyoming wearing cowboy blue jeans and a cowboy rodeo belt buckle and seated herself, completely flipped and became a turncoat. Liz has gone totally Democratic and appears to be down the road of the DEI inclusion and all the other dysfunctional things that are going on in her government,” said a Wyoming resident who identified himself as “Ralph.”
“The View” co-hosts praised former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., for endorsing Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Harris. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
“I support her decision to campaign for whoever she chooses. However, I do not think that she is a voice for the Wyoming people. The majority of people I know do not back Kamala Harris or that campaign,” Alicia Kellch told Fox Digital.
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Kellch said it is unlikely Cheney would be re-elected in Wyoming if she were to pursue such an avenue, adding that she believes many people who initially voted for Cheney feel “sold out once they got her in office and realized what her true intentions were.”
Alicia Kellch speaks with Fox News Digital in Casper, Wyoming. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
Chuck Kucera added in an interview that Cheney is a “backstabber,” quipping that a Harris campaign event is “probably a good place for her.”
John Shelton said Cheney could “never” run for office again in Wyoming and that he wouldn’t vote for her even “if she’s the last one to be voted for.”
One Wyoming resident told Fox Digital that Cheney teaming up with Harris didn’t “bother” him and didn’t view it as an issue, while noting that “most folks in Wyoming don’t agree with” Cheney endorsing Harris.
Two Wyoming residents told Fox News Digital they support Cheney teaming with Harris, with Jennifer Dillinger saying it was “absolutely amazing.”
Wyoming resident Jennifer Dillinger speaks with Fox News Digital. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
“It’s amazing how somebody who is extremely conservative, has been Republican her entire life but will support the Constitution and the country and not be specific for the party,” Dillinger said, adding that it’s unlikely Cheney would make a successful return to Wyoming politics as the state is “too conservative.”
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Another woman, Randi Chepke, said she’s “thrilled that Liz Cheney is supporting Kamala Harris,” arguing that Cheney is “putting our country above her party.”
Chepke added that Cheney’s endorsement of Harris will “absolutely” encourage some Republican voters to cast ballots for Harris next month.
“I think that she is a die-hard conservative and that she is stating her case about why she thinks it’s important to put democracy first. And, you know, frankly, democracy is much more important than the cost of a loaf of bread or a gallon of gas at this point in our lives,” Chepke said.
Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite/File)
Cheney joined Harris in Ripon, Wisconsin, which bills itself as the birthplace of the GOP, on Thursday, and formally endorsed Harris for president.
“I have never voted for a Democrat, but this year I am proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” Cheney told the audience. “As a conservative, as a patriot, as a mother, as someone who reveres our Constitution, I am honored to join her in this urgent cause.”
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Harris praised Cheney as a leader who “puts country above party and above self, a true patriot.”
Signal Mountain is viewed from the Oxbow Bend Overlook along the Snake River at Jackson Lake, Wyoming. (George Rose/Getty Images/File)
Cheney was the third-most powerful Republican in Congress from 2019 to 2021 but saw her rising star fade in the party as she launched repeated attacks against Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
“What is important is to recognize we just had a violent mob assault the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to prevent us from carrying out our constitutional duty,” Cheney said on Jan. 6 after Trump supporters stormed into the Capitol.
“There is no question that the president formed the mob. The president incited the mob, the president addressed the mob. This is what America is not.”
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Vice President Harris campaigns with former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney in Ripon, Wis., on Oct. 3, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Cheney went on to vote to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting an insurrection, sat on the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack to investigate the protest and has continued leveling attacks on Trump this year.
“I ask you to stand in truth. To reject the depraved cruelty of Donald Trump,” Cheney told the Harris supporters in Wisconsin last week.
Trump has meanwhile slammed Cheney as “a low IQ War Hawk” who suffers “gravely from Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Former President Trump addresses the crowd at a rally in Butler, Pa., on Oct. 5, 2024. (Matthew McDermott for Fox News Digital)
Cheney lost her GOP congressional primary in Wyoming to Harriet Hageman in 2022, a candidate backed by Trump. She has not announced another run for political office, but Cheney has fueled speculation since leaving the House that she could one day run for president.
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.