CHEYENNE — Former President Donald Trump endorsed her. Polls predicted his victory. Republicans rallied around her as the dominant challenger to an incumbent congresswoman vilified by the Wyoming GOP. And on Tuesday night, land attorney Harriet Hageman broke with a long political legacy, defeating Rep. Liz Cheney in Wyoming’s GOP congressional primary and cementing the state GOP’s loyalty to the former president.
The crowd cheered loudly as Hageman took the stage for his election party at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Event Center after calling the election.
“With our vote today, Wyoming has put the elites on notice; we will no longer tolerate representatives who do not represent us,” Hageman said.
“Wyoming has made it clear that we are done being governed by the one party in Washington, DC – those Democrats and Republicans who don’t care which party is in power, as long as they are.”
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The Cheyenne-based natural resources attorney beat Cheney by more than 25 points when the election was called, solidifying predictions from several polls that showed her leading the race by as much as 29 percentage points. Hageman’s victory shows the resonance of his anti-Cheney, pro-Trump campaign among Wyoming Republicans.
Hageman entered the race almost a year ago, just hours after Trump, going over those who had already declared his candidacy, gave him his endorsement. Some Republican candidates have since dropped out. Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Burns, kept it to the end. He had 2.6% of the vote when the election was called.
Two screens flanking the small stage at Hageman’s election night event played Fox News. People cheered every time the election numbers were updated to show Hageman’s growing lead over Cheney.
“She’s a real Wyomingite, she’s not a fake, she’s a self-made woman who doesn’t live off her father’s coattails,” Brett Cherni, who married into family close to the Hagemans, said Tuesday evening in the election party of the opponent in the Cheyenne. Frontier Days Event Center.
The congressional race, which normally doesn’t get much attention outside the state, has gained a spotlight thanks to the battle between Cheney and Trump. National and international media flocked to Hageman’s election party Tuesday evening: ABC, NBC/MSNBC, Real America’s Voice, international media such as Japan’s Kyodo News.
The former president’s political celebrity has dominated the race; Once allies and family friends, Hageman and Cheney became rivals after the current congresswoman’s outspoken criticism of Trump for his role in the January 6 Capitol uprising, as well as his continued lies about the results of the 2020 election. Although Hageman and Cheney share many political views, they break sharply in their positions on Trump. Hageman said at a recent forum in Casper that he believes the 2020 election was “rigged” and that the challenger has criticized Cheney for his involvement in the Jan. 6 investigative committee. Hageman has painted Cheney’s criticism and subsequent vote to impeach Trump as a betrayal of the people of Wyoming, a state that voted 70 percent for the former president in 2020. Cheney, on the other hand, called Hageman’s candidacy d ‘”tragic opportunism”.
But Hageman hasn’t always been a Trump supporter. In 2016, he endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, one of Trump’s main rivals for the GOP nomination. It was even part of an attempt to deny Trump the nomination in 2016, At that time the politician reported. And, according to the New York Times, then accused Trump of being racist and xenophobic. Additionally, the challenger supported Cheney’s failed 2013 Senate bid and successful 2016 House race, donating $500 and $1,500 to their campaigns, respectively.
In a dramatic twist, Hageman used the rift between Cheney and Trump to his advantage. He traveled thousands of miles around Wyoming voters in the months leading up to the primary. Meanwhile, her opponent was tied up in Washington, DC with her job as vice chair of the Jan. 6 investigative committee, a point Hageman has repeatedly stressed.
“I’m disappointed that he dropped the ball,” Julie Pilgrim, a Cody resident attending Hageman’s caucus, said of Cheney. Pilgrim voted for Cheney in 2016. Now, he believes Hageman best represents the values of Wyomingites.
“Right now we have the most dangerous and most destructive administration in the history of the United States,” Hageman said. “When I represent you, I will waste no time. I will fight every day to block the destruction of our country.”
Cheney’s role in the Jan. 6 investigative committee likely helped Hageman as well. Nearly 60 percent of Wyoming Republicans who planned to vote said Cheney’s involvement with the committee made them less likely to vote for her, a Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategies/Star-Tribune poll showed.
And Trump, for his part, has fueled this rivalry and put the spotlight on his chosen candidate.
In May, he held a rally in support of Hageman at the Ford Wyoming Center in Casper. It was his first official visit to Wyoming. Some interpreted it as a symbolic blow to the Cheney family, which hails from the town of Wyoming. Hageman and the former president embraced on stage in front of thousands from across Wyoming and out of state. People in the crowd, some of whom admitted they knew little about Hageman, said they would vote for her simply because she had Trump’s stamp of approval. Trump told the rapt audience that Wyoming’s congressional primary was “the most important election.”
Hageman told those in the crowd that he would “fight” for them in Washington DC as soon as he took home a victory against Cheney.
“We are fed up with the January 6 Commission,” he said. “We’re fed up with Liz Cheney.”
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