For the first time ever, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney is supporting and campaigning for Democrats. It’s a sign that she may decide to break away completely from the GOP and form an independent conservative party.
After her landslide loss to Trump-backed election denier Harriet Hageman in August’s Republican primary, Cheney converted her House campaign finance committee to a federal-leadership political action committee named “The Great Task,” according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission.
Cheney was stripped of the No. 3 House Republican leadership position after she voted to impeach Trump last year, and incurred the wrath of MAGA Republicans when she agreed to co-chair the House Select Committee investigating Trump’s role in instigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.
On Friday, Cheney’s PAC announced its first television spot — a $500,000 media buy for a 30-second ad in Arizona, urging voters to reject Trump-endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and secretary of state nominee Mark Finchem, both of whom have claimed the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
The ad opens with a video of Cheney speaking earlier this month at Arizona State University in an event gathered by the McCain Institute.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever voted for a Democrat, but if I lived in Arizona, I absolutely would,” Cheney says in the ad titled “Honor.” “You have a candidate for governor, Kari Lake; you have a candidate for Secretary of State Mark Finchem, both of whom have said they will only honor the results of an election if they agree with it.
“And If you care about the survival of our republic, you cannot give people power who will not honor elections. We must have elected officials who honor that responsibility.”
And she’s referring to Democratic gubernatorial nominee Katie Hobbs and Secretary of State nominee Adrian Fontes, who is seeking to succeed Hobbs in that position.
A day earlier, Cheney announced her first endorsement of a Democratic candidate when she declared her support for Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a former CIA analyst, who is in a tossup-rated race in Michigan’s new 7th CD with Republican State Sen. Tom Barrett, another 2020 election denier.
Cheney issued this statement endorsing Slotkin, according to The Detroit News.
“I have come to know Elissa as a good and honorable public servant who works hard for the people she represents, wants what's best for the country, and is in this for the right reasons.
“While Elissa and I have our policy disagreements, at a time when our nation is facing threats at home and abroad, we need serious, responsible, substantive members like Elissa in Congress. I encourage all voters in the 7th district — Republicans, Democrats, and Independents — to support her in this election.”
Cheney and Slotkin are scheduled to campaign together on Tuesday in Lansing, Mich., at a rally that is being billed as an “Evening for Patriotism and Bipartisanship.” Republicans have made this race a top target in their bid to regain a House majority.
It’s difficult to say what influence, if any, Cheney’s endorsements will have, but it can’t hurt if she helps peel away even a sliver of Republican votes in races likely to be decided by a few percentage points.
“In fact, my team telIs me your commercial should add another 10 points to our lead! I guess that’s why they call the Cheney anti-endorsement the gift that keeps on giving,” Lake said.
“Thank you again for the huge boost to our campaign! Enjoy your forced retirement from politics,” Lake continued. “I know America will rest easier knowing that one more warmonger is out of office.”
Well, Lake is right that Cheney has been forcibly cast out of the MAGA Republican party.But Cheney intends to remain active in national politics, focusing on keeping election deniers, in particular the denier-in-chief Donald Trump, from winning political offices.
Last month at The Texas Tribune Festival, Cheney said:
“I’m going to make sure Donald Trump, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he is not the nominee,” Cheney said.. “And if he is the nominee, I won’t be a Republican.”
After Cheney’s first endorsements of Democratic candidates, CNN’s Chris Cilizza wrote:
What Cheney’s initial moves after her primary loss suggest is that she is moving more toward breaking away entirely from the Republican Party in favor of trying to form a new party.
“The party has either to come back from where we are right now, which is a very dangerous and toxic place, or the party will splinter and there will be a new conservative party that rises,” Cheney predicted recently.
What looks most likely is that the GOP does splinter – although it’s debatable how big (or small) the Cheney wing of that splinter group actually is. And it now seems clear that Cheney will attempt to lead that group – possibly by running for president as an independent with a common-sense conservative platform.
And all I can say is that is potentially good news for Democrats.
