CASPER, Wyo. — Since her father’s first victory 44 years ago, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and her family have never lost an election in Wyoming. When George W. Bush picked Dick Cheney as his running mate, the Republican ticket won by about 40 points, twice.
Former president Donald Trump is determined to end that streak this summer, rallying aggressively behind primary challenger Harriet Hageman, who he is wagering can topple his most outspoken Republican critic in Congress.
He hit the trail over the weekend in a very different Wyoming from years past, one where thousands cheered him as he railed against Cheney and looped together what he called the “failed foreign policy of the Clintons, Bushes, the Obamas and the Bidens.”
Attendees laughed when a photo mash-up of the congresswoman’s body and former president George W. Bush’s face appeared on the Ford Wyoming Center’s highest screen. “I think she looks good,” Trump joked. “Liz Cheney is about America last.”
The Aug. 16 primary in Wyoming is shaping up as the next big test of Trump’s effort to unseat Republican elected officials who have been critical of him and who fought his falsehood-ridden attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
His crusade was dealt a major blow last week in Georgia, where Republican primary voters overwhelmingly renominated Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger over candidates the former president vigorously supported.
Those losses followed a spotty record in earlier...
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