Republican Rep. Liz Cheney on Thursday endorsed and plans to campaign for Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, the first time that the critic of former President Donald Trump who lost her GOP primary has crossed party lines to formally support a Democrat.
Cheney, of Wyoming, announced her support for the two-term House member from Holly, Michigan, in a statement by the Slotkin campaign that notes she plans to headline a campaign event with Slotkin in the Lansing-area district next Tuesday.
Slotkin is competing against Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. Their race is considered a toss-up by both sides and one of the Republicans’ chief targets in their campaign to win the House majority on Nov. 8.
Cheney and Slotkin serve on the House Armed Services Committee, but their shared background in the federal government goes back further. Cheney worked in the State Department before launching her political career, as did Slotkin, who worked in the CIA and the Defense Department as well.
Both have been vocal critics of House Republicans who have sought to downplay the siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Cheney is vice chair of the House Jan. 6 committee, which recently issued a subpoena for Trump to testify.
“I have come to know Elissa as a good and honorable public servant,” Cheney said in a statement included in the Slotkin campaign’s announcement. “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.”
For her part, Slotkin was an early and vocal proponent of the select committee’s formation.
Cheney’s role in the investigation into the violent breach of the Capitol and her unsparing criticism of Trump, a fellow Republican whom she described as “clearly unfit for future office,” cost her reelection to Wyoming’s at-large House seat. After her defeat in the August primary, she said she was considering a 2024 presidential campaign, which Trump is also expected to wage.
Though it’s unclear how the Jan. 6 attack will be reflected in the midterm voting, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll this month found only 9% of U.S. adults think democracy is working “extremely” well or “very well” while 52% say it’s not working well.
The AP-NORC poll also found a large segment of Republicans, 58%, still believe Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election wasn’t legitimate. That’s down slightly from 66% in July 2021. Exhaustive reviews in key states upheld Biden’s win, while judges — including some appointed by Trump — dismissed numerous lawsuits challenging the outcome. Trump’s own attorney general, William Barr, called the claims bogus.
“At a moment when the very heart of our democracy is being challenged, Rep. Cheney’s voice has been critical,” Slotkin said in the campaign press release. “Rep. Cheney has shown tremendous leadership over the last two years, and while we certainly don’t agree on every issue, I look forward to welcoming her to Michigan’s 7th district next week.”
As of two weeks ago, Michigan’s 7th District was the most expensive House race in the country, according to AdImpact, a nonpartisan political media tracking company. The two campaigns and outside groups had combined to spend $27 million.
Biden received more votes than Trump in the district in 2020 by less than 1 percentage point.
(AP)
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13 Responses
A traitor? That’s no way to describe an honorable conservative woman who has endorsed a colleague who has worked for the CIA.
Editor: Maybe you are the traitor who does not recognize a person who places honor before politics.
Liz Cheney is a true conservative. She is an American hero. She is from the few politicians who value truth over their political careers. Shane on the editors of YWN!!!
Cheney may be “a traitor” to demented MAGA populism, but she is a patriotic American and a true Conservative. She is loyal to her country and does not betray the constitution for the adoration of Trump and his followers.
“I have come to know Elissa as a good and honorable public servant,” … no such thing in politics .Not Clinton, Sanders, Trump ,Obama ,Schumer , Pelosi , & on & on !!!
Amazing!
Republicans would never vote for someone that Cheney endorsed so her endorsement means nothing
So why won’t Liz endorse the black Joe Pinion for US Senate in New York over the white Chuck Schumer? Is Liz Cheney such a racist?!
Yes, she is a traitor to the Republican Party. She has no honor and she is not a conservative. And the fact that she is willing to do this means that she was never honorable or conservative, and was always just pretending to be a Republican in order to be elected.
Eliezer,
You cross a very serious line when you call another Jew a traitor just because you don’t like what they said about a non-Jewish politician. How would you like to be called a traitor over your recent comments about the state of Israel by someone who felt you weren’t sufficiently critical?
TRAITOR!!!!! She should be kicked out of the Republican Party ASAP
For months now Liz Cheney had been trying to explain that there are things more important than party loyalty. If a politician is a criminal, anti-democratic, or otherwise bad for the country, then it’s better to vote for the other party even if you disagree with them. The republic is more important than the party. Sadly she has not gotten through to most Republicans including the YWN editors. The GOP seems to value winning elections over everything else. In the long term they will probably not survive.
Milhouse: So what is an honorable Republican supposed to do if he or she does not like the Republican candidate for whatever reason (lets say l’mashal the Republican candidate is anti-Israel pro-Palestinian or perhaps anti- semetic) and the Democratic candidate is a decent guy (lets say he is pro- Israel an Ohev Yisrael or perhaps he is actually Jewish) In your opinion is a Republican never to vote for a Democratic no matter what? Because to do so would be a traitor to the Republican party? or perhaps not to vote at all and just leave it up to Hashem, or do you agree that there may cases that a Republican does what is right for the country and votes Democratic?
If you are a Republican office holder you do not endorse Democrats. At most you withhold your endorsement from those Republicans you don’t like.
This does not apply when someone who is NOT a Republican has managed to win a primary, and the whole party has rejected them and is campaigning against them, e.g. when David Duke ran in Louisiana and the whole GOP supported the criminal Edwin Edwards; the slogan was “Vote for the crook, it’s important”. (Likewise when a Lyndon Larouche follower won the Democrat primary for Illinois Lt Gov, the Dems campaigned against him.) But note that Duke was never a Republican; he was never welcome at any GOP function or in any GOP body. He simply declared himself a Republican and ran in the GOP primary, which nobody could stop him doing.