- Liz Cheney says she won't compromise following the Constitution, even if it costs her an election.
- The Wyoming lawmaker recently told The New York Times "that's a price I'm willing to pay."
- Cheney faces a set of GOP challenges, including water rights attorney Harriet Hageman, on Aug. 16.
Rep. Liz Cheney during a recent interview said that she was "willing" to lose her House seat if winning compromised her ability to adhere to the Constitution, a sentiment she has vocally shared in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021, riot at the United States Capitol.
While speaking with The New York Times, the Wyoming lawmaker, who faces a difficult primary on August 16 against water rights attorney Harriet Hageman, said that she would not compromise her values to win an election.
"If the cost of standing up for the Constitution is losing the House seat, then that's a price I'm willing to pay," she told The Times.
Cheney was first elected to the House in 2016 and quickly rose up the leadership ladder by becoming the House Republican Conference Chair in 2019, but after voting to impeach former President Donald Trump for "incitement of insurrection" for his actions on January 6, 2021, and vocally refuting his allegations of a "stolen" presidential election, she was removed from House leadership in May 2021.
The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, the conservative congresswoman has been in the public eye for decades.
But it is her work with the House committee investigating the January 6 riot that has given her even greater national prominence.
She was tapped by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California to serve as the vice chair of the committee; the panel's work has led to a series of hearings that have brought previously undisclosed revelations about the events of that day to the public.
However, in Wyoming — a solidly Republican state where Trump won with nearly 70% of the vote in the 2020 election — Cheney's outspokenness swiftly led to a slate of GOP challengers.
But Cheney refuses to shift her worldview on the matter, stating during a recent primary debate that voters could "vote for somebody else" if they sought a candidate who would disregard their oath of office.
The congresswoman during the interview stressed that she was a Republican and was not switching parties, yet she had some dire words for her political party, stating that the GOP "may not be" salvageable at the moment and deeming it as "very sick."
The party, Cheney added, "is continuing to drive itself in a ditch and I think it's going to take several cycles if it can be healed."