Former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, further underscoring her distance from the Republican Party.
While speaking at Duke University, the Republican explained her decision to support the Democratic presidential nominee.
“As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this,” Cheney told the audience. “Because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris.”
Cheney has been at odds with members of her party for years. She lost her bid for reelection during the 2022 primaries to Congressman Harriet Hageman, who earned more than twice as many votes.
The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney became increasingly unpopular after serving as the vice chairwoman of the Congressional committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
“We owe it to the American people to investigate everything that led up to, and transpired on, January 6th,” she said in a statement, per PBS News. "We will not be deterred by threats or attempted obstruction and we will not rest until our task is complete.”
The other Republican who accepted a position on the committee, Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Kinzinger denounced Trump and said the party had “switched its allegiance from the principles that gave it purpose to a man whose only purpose is itself."
Cheney has also been a vocal critic of Trump, whom she voted to impeach. In July, she took to social media to warn against reelecting the Republican presidential nominee.
“We must defeat the former president who threatens to unravel our Republic,” Cheney wrote, per The Hill. “We must not fail.”
She has also criticized Trump’s running mate, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio. Cheney said Vance was willing to “overturn an election and illegally seize power” and that neither he nor Trump are “fit to serve.”
“He would capitulate to Russia and sacrifice the freedom of our allies in Ukraine. The Trump GOP is no longer the party of Lincoln, Reagan or the Constitution,” she wrote on X.
After losing her seat in Congress, Cheney became a professor of practice at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
“Preserving our constitutional republic is the most important work of our time, and our nation’s young people will play a crucial role in this effort,” she said in the school’s announcement. “I look forward to working with students and colleagues at the center to advance the important work they and others at the University of Virginia are doing to improve the health of democracy here and around the world.”
During her speech at the DNC, Harris said she would consider appointing a Republican to her cabinet.
“I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion. I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences,” said Harris. “And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican.”
