Liz Cheney has lost the primary contest for her seat in the US House of Representatives to a challenger backed by Donald Trump, as Republicans in the staunchly conservative western state of Wyoming punished her for being one of the most prominent critics of the former president in Congress.
Cheney, daughter of former vice-president Dick Cheney, has represented Wyoming in the House since 2017. However, she had been facing an uphill battle to win re-election this year after becoming vice-chair of the congressional panel investigating the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol and voting to impeach Trump, in defiance of the former president and Republican leaders.
In a speech to supporters following her loss, Cheney said she could have won the primary, but it would have required embracing Trump’s conspiracies about the 2020 election. “Our republic relies upon the good will of all candidates for office to accept the outcome of elections,” she said.