It's Official: Rep. Liz Cheney Loses Her Primary

On Tuesday night, as expected, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), lost her primary to Harriet Hageman, who was backed by former President Donald Trump.

The race was called by Decision Desk HQ AT 9:27pm, less than a half hour after the polls closed. 

Decision Desk HQ projects Harriet Hageman (@HagemanforWY) is the winner of the Republican nomination for Wyoming's at-large U.S. House congressional district. She has defeated incumbent Rep Liz Cheney (R).#DecisionMade: 9:27pm EDT

More results here: https://t.co/lXPOtTvdbv

— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) August 17, 2022

With just an estimated 6 percent of the vote in, Hageman has 60.52 percent of the vote to Cheney's 34.96 percent. As the numbers come in, Cheney's percentage of the vote keeps getting lower. 

Again, such a result is very much expected. Poll after poll showed Hageman ahead of Cheney, with a poll earlier this month from the University of Wyoming showing her trailing by nearly 30 points even. 

As one of Trump's biggest foes, Cheney's primary race has been a particularly exciting one to watch. 

She was particularly vocal about voting to impeach Trump in January of last year, with his Senate trial not occurring until he had already left office. Her anti-Trump crusade became such a distraction to her party, that she was removed from her position as House Republican Conference chairwoman in May of last year, and was replaced by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who still holds the position. 

Rep. Cheney, who serves as vice-chair of the January 6 select committee, is also just one of two Republicans, the other being Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), another Trump foe. Both were selected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), though, with no members selected by the minority party serving.

Recommended

Watch Scott Jennings Slap Down This Shoddy Talking Point About the Spending Bill Matt Vespa

Advertisement

Polling as well as feedback from voters in Wyoming indicated that Cheney's constituents were less than pleased about her role on the select committee.

As high-profile as Cheney's race is, she's far from the only anti-Trump Republican to go down. A handful have chosen to retire, including Reps. Kinzinger, Anthony Gonzalez (OH), John Katko (NY), and Fred Upton (MI). 

Kinzinger's seat was pretty much redistricted out of existence by Illinois State Democrats, though he may seek higher office and even run for president in 2024 in yet another attempt to take down Trump. 

Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA), Peter Meijer (MI), and Tom Rice (SC) lost their primaries, with Rep. Rice losing by a particularly large margin.

Hageman is almost certain to win in November to become Wyoming's next congresswoman, as the state is heavily Republican, having voted for Trump with 69.5 percent of the vote in 2020. Cheney herself won the general election in 2020 with a similar high percentage of 68.6 percent of the vote.