Cheney’s Loss Reveals ‘Massive Disconnect’ Between Americans and Politicians: Lawmaker

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) arrives to a primary night event in Jackson, Wyo., on Aug. 16, 2022. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) said Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) defeat last week against a GOP challenger revealed a “massive disconnect” between politicians in Washington and Americans.

Republican voters, he said, don’t care about the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. Cheney was perhaps the leading figure on the Democrat-dominated House Jan. 6 panel.

“These congressional seats do not belong to politicians in Washington,” Barr told NBC News on Sunday. “These seats belong to the American people. And there is a massive, massive disconnect between the priorities of politicians in Washington and the concerns of the American people.”

Barr said that Republicans are going to pick up seats in the House because they are “laser-focused on what the American people actually care about.”

“They’re talking about not being able to afford putting food on the table, putting gas in their trucks, ” he said. “That’s what the American people care about. And politicians who obsess about the past are not in touch with the American people.”

Cheney’s Future

Cheney, who voted to impeach President Donald Trump during his second impeachment inquiry a week before the end of his term, was handily defeated by Trump-endorsed Republican challenger Harriet Hageman last week for the Republican nomination for Wyoming’s at-large seat.

Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) speaks during a news conference in Washington on May 20, 2014. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Trump hailed Hageman’s win over Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.

“I assume that with the very big Liz Cheney loss, far bigger than had ever been anticipated, the January 6th Committee of political Hacks and Thugs will quickly begin the beautiful process of DISSOLUTION?“ Trump wrote on Truth Social last week. ”This was a referendum on the never ending Witch Hunt.”

Cheney’s defeat also means that eight of the 10 Republicans in the House who voted to impeach Trump have either lost their primary bid or resigned. Only two of those Republicans survived their GOP primary races.

Another prominent member of the House Jan. 6 committee, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), announced last year that he wouldn’t seek another term in office.

But after the loss, Cheney suggested that she may consider running for president in 2024.

“It is something I’m thinking about, and I’ll make a decision in the coming months,” she told NBC’s “Today” show after her loss last week in response to a question about the presidential race.

If Cheney runs, she likely wouldn’t win the Republican nomination, according to Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) in a recent interview.

“I’m not going to encourage anyone to run for president. I’ve done that myself, and that’s something I’m not doing again. I don’t know if she really wants to do that. She would not become the nominee if she were to run. I can’t imagine that would occur,” Romney said at a Utah event, according to the Deseret News.