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Liz Cheney Wins Republican U.S. House Nomination

Bob Beck
/
Wyoming Public Radio

After a hotly-contested primary, Liz Cheney secured the Republican nomination for Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat by a landslide. Cheney took 40 percent of the vote. Her closest challengers were Leland Christensen, with 22 percent, and Tim Stubson, with 17 percent.

Cheney is a former Fox news commentator and the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, who held the seat she is seeking from 1979 to 1989. 

Liz Cheney first ran for office in 2014 against Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi, but she dropped out of that race before the primary, citing family health problems.

In that primary and this one, much of the criticism from her opponents focused on the fact that Cheney had not lived in Wyoming since she was a child. Cheney says the outcome of this election shows voters were not nearly as concerned about that as her opponents. 

“I was really focused on the gravity of the situation that we are facing as a state and the need to talk about the issues and solutions to those issues," she said. "I think the people of Wyoming have long demonstrated that they care about substance.”

Cheney says going into the general election she plans to continue to emphasize a conservative message.

“A lot of the focus will really be on who really is the person in this race that’s going to stand up for the constitution, stand up for our freedoms, and our way of life and be willing to put in place the pro-growth economic policies that our state so badly needs,” she said.

Despite trading barbs with Cheney throughout the primary both Christensen and Stubson say they will support her in the general election.

“When you get down to different types of campaigns, we had a budget-ran one, with a lot of shoe leather, and my opponent had a different style and a model, and a different budget in her race," Christensen said. "The Wyoming voters made a choice and we’ve got to respect that. And I do.”

Cheney raised far more money than any of her opponents in the race, bringing in a total of $1.5 million. Stubson also credited Cheney's fundraising with playing a role in the outcome of the race, saying both that and her family name likely helped. But he added that "she also ran a really good race."

Christensen said he hopes Republicans in Congress will continue to focus on the budget and rolling back federal regulations. 

"Wyoming is being challenged with some real heavy-handed federal government and depending on what happens with the Presidential [race], we need Congress to be strong," he said. 

Christensen will continue to serve as a senator in the Wyoming Legislature. Stubson did not run for reelection to his seat in the Legislature. He says he will return to his day job as an attorney.

Cheney will face Democrat Ryan Greene in the general election.

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