Liz Cheney (R - Wyoming) lost her primary yesterday and will be leaving Congress at the end of her term. This comes as no surprise. Wyoming is a very Republican state. In 2016, the year she was elected to the House of Representatives, Donald Trump garnered 68% of the votes. Hillary Clinton received 22% of the votes. Liz Cheney won her seat with 62% while her Democrat opponent had 30%.
In 2018, Cheney won re-election with 64% vs. 30%, a modest increase in her support.
In 2020, she had her best showing yet, 69% vs. 25%. However, Donald Trump had 70% support from Wyoming. As a percentage of voters, this was the strongest support for Trump in the nation. West Virginia was second at 69%, which might explain Joe Manchin's maverick status in the Senate.
Considering the voting of the citizens she represents, did joining the January 6th Hearings to attack Trump and those who support him look like a good idea? Was she representing her state by providing 'bipartisan' membership on this one-sided committee? Yesterday, her constituents gave her their opinion. She was trounced, 66% to 29%.
In her concession speech, she likened herself to Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln lost elections to the House and the Senate but was eventually elected president. Wishful thinking. Like it or not, Donald Trump was the most popular president among the Republican electorate since Reagan. Her elective political career is over. Her best opportunity to stay in politics is to become a pundit (e.g., Joe Scarborough) or get someone to appoint her to the bureaucracy. She has torpedoed her chances of appointment by a Republican in the near term, so her best bet is punditry.
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