Liz Cheney is still teasing a 2024 run even after badly losing the Wyoming primary for her seat in Congress to conservative lawyer Harriet Hageman last year.
Cheney has now said that if she enters the race, it will be as a third-party candidate — likely hoping to act as a spoiler against former President Donald Trump.
“Several years ago, I would not have contemplated a third-party run,” Cheney told The Washington Post on Monday while promoting her new book. “I happen to think democracy is at risk at home, obviously, as a result of Donald Trump’s continued grip on the Republican Party, and I think democracy is at risk internationally as well.”
Cheney told the paper that she will make her decision in the next few months.
“We face threats that could be existential to the United States and we need a candidate who is going to be able to deal with and address and confront all of those challenges,” Cheney said. “That will all be part of my calculation as we go into the early months of 2024.”
The report added that if she does not run for the presidency, Cheney has also not ruled out campaigning for President Joe Biden.
"In a remarkable turn of events for a former member of House GOP leadership, Cheney also said she would use her influence in 2024 to ensure voters do not elect a pro-Trump Republican majority in the House and that she will back 'pro-Constitution candidates' and 'serious people,' regardless of part," the report says.
The Wyoming Republican Party voted to formally censure Cheney in February of 2021 and removed her from her role as conference chair the following May for her over-the-top opposition to Trump, including voting to impeach him and participating in the ridiculous January 6 committee. The state party later voted to no longer recognize her as a Republican at all.
On a national level, House Republicans removed her from her role as conference chair over her antics while she was in office.
The Post asked Cheney if she had any plans to enlist her dad (former Vice President Dick Cheney) and his onetime running mate, former president George W. Bush, in "her crusade to prevent Trump from becoming president."
Cheney responded that the country will be facing a moment “where everyone must speak out.”
“We need everybody on the field,” she said. “That needs to be amplified and organized in a concerted effort, to make sure people understand that these are the people closest to him — and this is what they say about his lack of fitness for office. It is going to require all hands on deck certainly in this campaign cycle.”
It is unclear who Cheney expects to vote for her, as Republicans dislike her personality and Democrats dislike her policies.
