Rep. Liz Cheney's (R-WY) latest move reeks of desperation, right? She’s dusting her state with mailers to Democratic households urging them to switch parties so they can vote for her in the GOP primary in August. For a brief period, there was a scenario where the two conservatives would split the anti-Cheney vote in the primary, and Liz could win re-election, thanks to Independents and Democrats voting for her. That was a long time ago. The landscape has changed. Liz didn’t have much to work with here given that she pretty much-called base Republicans lunatics. She also says she doesn’t care what pro-Trump Republicans think of her. Well, that’s the entire party lady.
NEW NEWS: Liz Cheney is sending mail to Wyoming Democrats with instructions on how to switch parties to vote for her in the state's August primary. https://t.co/wR5asnnkGR pic.twitter.com/imnhKYccrL
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) June 23, 2022
This latest mailer seems to show that inside the Cheney camp, they’re not comfortable at all with the prospect that she can win. Seriously, if you had told me ten years ago that Cheney would reach out to Democrats for salvation and that some might be tempted to help her, I would have laughed. But Trump has shocked the system, making folks of all stripes support things that might never have considered otherwise (via NYT):
Representative Liz Cheney, a Republican of Wyoming whose polling remains far behind her Trump-endorsed primary challenger as her House committee’s Jan. 6 hearings continue, is urging Democrats in her home state to switch parties to support her in the Aug. 16 primary.
In the last week, Wyoming Democrats have received mail from Ms. Cheney's campaign with specific instructions on how to change their party affiliation to vote for her. Ms. Cheney’s campaign website now has a link to a form for changing parties.
Joseph Barbuto, the chairman of the Wyoming Democratic Party, was among those who received Ms. Cheney’s instructions. Mr. Barbuto said that over the last week, his social media feeds have been flooded with Democrats — and only Democrats — posting about receiving mailers from the Cheney campaign.
[…]
Recruiting Democratic support has been a sensitive topic for Ms. Cheney since she voted to impeach former President Donald J. Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. She has cast her August primary contest with Harriet Hageman, who is allied with and endorsed by Mr. Trump, as a battle for the soul of the Republican Party. Recruiting Democrats to that fight could undermine those efforts.
In a February interview in Cheyenne, Wyo., Ms. Cheney dismissed the possibility that she would make a concerted effort to reach out to Democrats asking them to change parties ahead of the primary.
“That is not something that I have contemplated, that I have organized or that I will organize,” Ms. Cheney told The New York Times then, adding that she would “work hard for every single vote.”
[…]
Between January and June, the number of registered Republicans in Wyoming increased by 1,689, while the number of Democrats and unaffiliated voters dropped by a total of 1,303, according to data from the Wyoming secretary of state’s office. There are more than four times as many registered Republicans as there are Democrats in the state.
As we’ve noted before, she is going down in flames. She’s fine with going down in a blaze of glory. Cheney is fighting until the end, like the Japanese on Okinawa. The true gut punch is what Barbuto said at the end of the piece.
“Even if every Democrat in the state switched over, I don’t think it’d be enough to help her.”
Pack it in, Liz.
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