Liz Cheney: Republican Trump critic faces election battle in Wyoming

One of the most prominent Republican critics of Donald Trump is fighting to retain her seat in Congress, with a candidate backed by the former president mounting a strong challenge.

Republicans in Wyoming will decide who will contest Liz Cheney’s seat in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Polls suggest the 56-year-old is facing an uphill battle to win re-election.

The three-term congresswoman is vice-chair of the panel investigating Mr Trump over last year’s Capitol riot.

Ms Cheney – who also voted to impeach the former president – has become a virtual outcast within the party over her involvement with the panel, which is examining Mr Trump’s role in the January 6 riot as well as the broader attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

Her top challenger, meanwhile, was handpicked by Mr Trump and has embraced his unfounded claims that the election was fraudulent.

Harriet Hageman – a 59-year-old lawyer who ran to be Wyoming governor in 2018 – also defended Mr Trump after his Florida home was searched by the FBI last week, branding it “political persecution”.

Ms Cheney, however, said she was “ashamed to hear members of my party attacking the integrity of the FBI”.

The pair’s stark differences illustrate the competing wings of the Republican Party, with more traditional conservatives facing off against Trump-backed candidates in primaries around the country.

Mr Trump has endorsed dozens of candidates ahead of the mid-term elections in November that will determine control of Congress, as well as governorships and state legislatures.

And those candidates – who have repeated his false claims about the 2020 election and defended him amid mounting legal troubles – have largely performed well.

Ms Cheney is the last of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Mr Trump to face primary voters. Of the 10, four have retired rather than seek re-election and three have lost to Trump-backed candidates.

There is some speculation that Ms Cheney, the eldest daughter of former Vice-President Dick Cheney, would consider challenging Mr Trump for the Republican nomination if he announces a run for 2024.

She has not commented on this speculation.

Wyoming is a reliably Republican state, meaning it is unlikely to play a major role in deciding whether President Joe Biden’s Democrats maintain their small majorities in the House and Senate later this year.