“This primary election is over,” Cheney said in her speech. “But now the real work begins.”
On Wednesday morning, she told NBC’s “Today” show that she is “thinking about” running for president and will make a decision in “the coming months.”
Though she made no announcement about her plans Tuesday night, Cheney did hint at a future in elective politics.
“The great and original champion of our party, Abraham Lincoln, was defeated in elections for the Senate and the House before he won the most important election of all,” she said. “Lincoln ultimately prevailed, he saved our union and he defined our obligation as Americans for all of history.”
Overnight, the Cheney campaign filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission creating a leadership PAC to be called “The Great Task.” This is the first of several next steps from Cheney, an adviser told CNN, as she starts to make good on ideas expressed in her election night speech and opens a new chapter in the wake of her landslide defeat. The name of the PAC is a historic nod to Lincoln who spoke at Gettysburg of the “great task” facing the country.
Cheney’s attempt at projecting dignity in defeat in her election night speech was itself a clear rejoinder to Trump’s behavior since losing the 2020 election.
“No House seat, no office in this land is more important than the principles that we are all sworn to protect. And I well understood the potential political consequences of abiding by my duty,” she said. “Our republic relies upon the goodwill of all candidates for office to accept, honorably, the outcome of elections. And tonight, Harriet Hageman has received the most votes in this primary. She won. I called her to concede the race.”
Despite her conservative credentials and party pedigree, her role as Trump’s chief GOP critic on Capitol Hill made her a heavy underdog in a state the former President won with nearly 70% of the vote in 2020. His enduring popularity there, coupled with Cheney’s role as vice chair of the January 6 committee, made the three-term congresswoman and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney a top target of Trump allies.
Cheney said American democracy faced an existential threat — that “our survival is not guaranteed” — calling out Republican efforts at the state level to decertify 2020 election results and GOP midterm candidates who have already begun to cast doubt on future votes.
“If we do not condemn the conspiracies and the lies, if we do not hold those responsible to account, we will be excusing this conduct and it will become a feature of all elections,” she said. “America will never be the same.”
Trump’s grip on the GOP has been proven again and again since he left Washington. With Wyoming’s vote in, Cheney becomes the fourth House Republican who voted to impeach Trump to lose her primary. Four others were not running for another term. The two survivors to date, in California and Washington, benefited from their states’ nonpartisan primary system. Cheney had no such cushion, though a late push for Democrats and independents to register for the GOP primary might have somewhat softened the ultimate count.
Leading Republicans on Capitol Hill had coalesced around Hageman, who has embraced Trump’s false election fraud claims and called the 2020 contest “rigged.” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, another Hageman supporter, on Monday said during an appearance on Fox News that the election in Wyoming was “going to be a referendum on the January 6 committee.”
Cheney on Tuesday also addressed the recent search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, denouncing the former President’s efforts to sow anger among his supporters and potentially endanger FBI agents involved in the raid by releasing some of their names.
“That was purposeful and malicious. No patriotic American should excuse these threats or be intimidated by them,” she said. “Our great nation must not be ruled by a mob provoked over social media.”
As Cheney issued a dire warning…
Read More: Liz Cheney vows to carry on fight against Trump after conceding defeat in Wyoming primary