Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said Aug. 17 she’s considering a run for president in 2024 after losing in the Republican primary for the seat she now holds.
“It is something that I’m thinking about,” Cheney said on NBC’s “Today” show.
“That’s a decision that I’m going to make in the coming months,” she also said.
Hageman, backed by former President Donald Trump, received over 113,000 votes, according to the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office. Cheney, who has become one of Trump’s fiercest critics, received about 49,300 votes.
In a victory speech in Cheyenne, Hageman told supporters that “Wyoming has spoken on behalf of everyone who is concerned that the game is becoming more and more rigged against them” and that voters showed “we can dislodge entrenched politicians who believe they’ve risen above the people they’re supposed to represent.”
Cheney lost despite reaching out to Democrats who have supported her efforts as vice chair of the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. Wyoming enables voters to switch parties to vote in primaries, known colloquially as crossover voting.
Cheney told supporters in Jackson that she could have won the primary if she had gone along with “President’s Trump lie about the 2020 election,” referring to Trump’s calling the election rigged.
“It would have required that I enable his ongoing efforts to unravel our democratic system and attack the foundations of our republic. That was a path I could not and would not take,” she said.
“Now she can finally disappear into the depths of political oblivion where, I am sure, she will be much happier than she is right now,” he added.
Cheney said she would finish her term in Congress, including completing work on the Jan. 6 committee, and do “whatever it takes to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office.”
“I believe that Donald Trump continues to pose a very grave threat—a risk to our republic—and I think defeating him is going to require a broad and united front of Republicans, Democrats, and independents and that’s what I intend to be a part of,” added Cheney, who has so far refused to leave the Republican Party.
No candidates have yet formally declared for 2024. Trump has indicated he will run for a third time after winning in 2016 and losing in 2020. Surveys indicate he would attract the most Republican support if he does.
Other possible GOP candidates include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
