Two Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives are publicly asking Democratic voters in Wyoming to vote for Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) in her upcoming primary, as she faces likely defeat at the hands of a pro-Trump challenger.
According to the Daily Wire, Congressmen Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) and Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) made their appeals to Wyoming Democrats in online campaign ads this week, voicing their support for Cheney’s re-election.
“Liz Cheney and I don’t agree on everything,” says Malinowski in a Facebook ad. “But we’re on the same side today, fighting for a country where we settle our differences by voting, not violence. Wyoming Democrats can put country over party too by registering to vote for her in the Republican primary.”
Phillips made a similar demand in another ad, saying “you might be a little surprised that I’d be supporting Liz Cheney in her bid to continue representing Wyoming in the U.S. House, but principle must always come before politics, and nobody has shown more honor, integrity, and courage than she.”
“So I ask you to please consider temporarily switching parties and voting for Liz Cheney on or by August 16th,” he continued.
The requests by the two congressmen reflect a strategy that has been discussed by some Democrats as a means to oppose candidates endorsed by President Donald Trump. Cheney is the last of the ten Republicans in the House who voted in favor of President Trump’s second impeachment, and Trump has endorsed rival candidate Harriet Hageman, a former Republican National Committee member and gubernatorial candidate in 2018.
Due to her vote for impeachment, as well as her continued vocal criticisms of Trump and her participation in the controversial January 6th committee, the Wyoming Republican Party both censured and then disavowed her, refusing to recognize her as a Republican in the coming election. Polls overwhelmingly indicate that Cheney will lose the primary on August 16th, which would make her the fourth pro-impeachment Republican to lose a primary this year.