- Trump lashed out at Rep. Liz Cheney while basking in the defeat of another pro-impeachment lawmaker.
- Trump has made it his mission to chase pro-impeachment lawmakers out of the GOP.
- Wyoming's Republican primary takes place on August 16.
Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed that Rep. Liz Cheney, who voted to impeach him over the January 6 Capitol riot, will soon lose her reelection bid — just how Rep. Tom Rice, another pro-impeachment lawmaker, was defeated in South Carolina's primary on Tuesday night.
"Same thing's going to happen in Wyoming to Virginia 'resident' Liz Cheney, that happened in South Carolina to Congressman 'Impeach Master' Tom Rice, who lost as an incumbent by 28 points!" Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Cheney and Rice were among the 10 House Republicans who broke with their party and voted to impeach Trump on a charge of "incitement of insurrection" last year in the wake of the Capitol attack. Only six of those Republicans are running for reelection in this year's midterms, and Rice is the first in that cohort to lose a primary.
With an estimated 95% of the results in, Rice is projected to lose to former state lawmaker and Trump-backed candidate Russell Fry, per Decision Desk HQ and Insider. In a sign of the extent of his defeat, Rice is currently trailing by more than 26 percentage points, a shellacking for a five-term incumbent.
Trump has made it abundantly clear that his mission is to rid the Republican Party of anyone he deems disloyal to him. Cheney, a staunch conservative who serves as vice chair of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, has been one of Trump's toughest critics in Congress since he left office. She will face a Trump-endorsed challenger, attorney and former Republican National Committee member, Harriet Hageman, in Wyoming's Republican primary on August 16.
The former president has repeatedly taunted Cheney and her father, former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney. Trump has taken to calling the lawmaker a "war criminal" and delights in attacking the family for their support of the Iraq War, although Trump himself at the time, then-an emerging reality TV star, also supported the conflict.
Cheney has stood her ground against Trump and characterized herself as a defender of the Constitution. There has been no significant independent polling of the race as of yet. Cheney has amassed a large campaign war chest compared to Hageman so far.
Cheney's campaign did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
Though Rice lost his primary, Trump appears to be losing at least some of his grip over the GOP based on other recent primary elections. Rep. Nancy Mace, who ran against a Trump-backed opponent in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District, edged out her primary challenger on Tuesday evening.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who Trump heavily targeted because they refused to challenge the 2020 election results, also both coasted to victory in their primaries against Trump-endorsed candidates last month. Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, who Trump threw his support behind, lost his primary last month as well.