Liz Cheney, the former Republican congresswoman from Wyoming, made a headline-grabbing announcement that she would vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Cheney’s father, Dick, the former Vice President of the United States, served as CEO of Haliburton, a company that supplied services that powered America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Cheney family increased their net worth to nearly 100 million dollars during America’s longest war. As daughter of the prominent warhawk CEO, Cheney enriched herself on the spoils of war.
This decision came despite Cheney’s long-standing conservative credentials and her sharp criticisms of Harris in the past. In a striking shift, Cheney’s main concern now is the existential threat she believes Donald Trump poses to democracy.
During her speech at Duke University, Cheney made it clear: “As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this, and 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.” This statement was met with applause from the audience, a stark contrast to her previous rhetoric regarding Harris, whom Cheney once lambasted for being too far-left and out of touch with mainstream America.
Cheney’s political journey has been shaped largely by her unwavering stance against Trump, especially following the January 6th Capitol riots.
She served as the vice chair of the January 6th Committee, which investigated Trump’s role in inciting the attack. Her outspoken criticism cost her her position within the GOP leadership and ultimately her seat in Congress, as she was defeated in a primary by a Trump-backed candidate. Despite these setbacks, Cheney has continued to warn of the dangers Trump poses to democratic institutions.
In previous years, Cheney harshly criticized Harris for her progressive stances. In 2020, she described Harris as “a radical liberal,” even saying that her voting record in the Senate was to the left of Bernie Sanders.
“Speaker 1 (00:00)
In one fell swoop here, he has put somebody on the ticket whose voting record in the Senate is to the left of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. I think that the American people are going to look at the substance of this. They’re going to look at what she stood for in the past. They’re going to look at what she said during the primary election. It’s very clear she is a radical liberal. She’s somebody that has said we ought to spend $32 trillion on Medicare for all. If you look at her as well in California, she did, in fact, essentially ban gun sales with executive action. She threatened during the primaries to do the same thing if she wins,” Cheney said.
At the time, Cheney pointed to Harris’ support for initiatives like Medicare for All and her positions on gun control, stating that these policies made her unfit for the presidency. Cheney’s willingness to now support Harris, a candidate she once deemed dangerous for the country, is a testament to how deeply she feels about preventing Trump’s return to power.
In making her endorsement, Cheney joined a growing list of prominent Republicans and former warhawk GOP officials who are backing Harris, including many from the Bush and McCain campaigns. For Cheney, the 2024 election is not about partisan loyalties but about protecting the Constitution from what she believes is an unprecedented threat in Donald Trump.
