Longtime Republican Liz Cheney reveals she is voting for Kamala Harris for president, making her announcement in a state where the outcome is still uncertain.
Cheney, the former member of the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives who broke with Trump on January 6 and served as an outspoken member of the House of Representatives committee for January 6, revealed her decision Wednesday at Duke University.
In doing so, she said she was not merely sitting on the sidelines or even writing an alternative, but was throwing her support behind Harris. While not entirely unexpected, the move is still a stunning statement from the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has spent her life immersed in Republican politics.
“Because we’re here in North Carolina, I think it’s critically important that people realize that what I’ve said about the danger of Trump is not only something that should deter people from voting for him, but I don’t believe we have the luxury of writing down the names of candidates, especially in swing states,” Cheney said.
“And as a conservative and as someone who believes in the Constitution and cares about it, I’ve thought deeply about this. And because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only will I not vote for Donald Trump, I will vote for Kamala Harris.”
Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney has announced she is supporting Vice President Kamala Harris over Donald Trump
Her statement came days after she cabled the New York Times that she would make her position known within days. And she did so in a state that Harris hopes to wrest from Trump, who won it in 2020.
Harris made an explicit appeal for Republican support during her party convention, inviting Republican speakers including former Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s former spokesperson.
But Cheney, surprisingly, did not show up (and neither did Beyoncé, despite rumors).
The Harris camp has reached out to Cheney and other Republicans in an effort to drum up support
The Harris camp had reached out to the former Wyoming Republican, who called Trump “unstable” and “depraved” and who voted to impeach Trump after Jan. 6.
Another recently retired Republican lawmaker, former Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, took a different path, announcing on CNBC this week that he would vote for neither Trump nor Harris, even as he acknowledged the race was a “binary choice.”
Harris said in her recent interview with CNN that if elected, she would include a Republican in the Cabinet.
Harris is battling for Republican support in crucial states, including Pennsylvania, where she and Trump are virtually tied.
Harris, meanwhile, has signaled to Republicans and independents that she will chart her own course and not adopt all of President Biden’s policies. She signaled this on Wednesday over capital gains tax rates, a long-standing fixture of Republican interest, while also saying she would continue to supply U.S. weapons to Israel and sign a bipartisan border deal.
The Trump campaign to strike back with a clip of Cheney mocking Harris as Biden nominates her, calling her someone whose “voting record in the Senate is more left-wing than Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.”
