â…Ms. Cheney hasnât appeared at a state Republican Party function in more than two years and hasnât been to an in-person event for any of the partyâs 23 county chapters since 2020,â the Times published.
While Republicans held a major prom-themed fundraiser in southwest Wyoming Saturday, the âbiggest night of the yearâ for the areaâs Republicans, Cheney was in the state capital of Cheyenne at an annual gathering for the Wyoming Press Association. Local constituents made clear to The Federalist last fall their at-large congresswomanâs visit anywhere beyond the northwest region of the state, referred to as the âCaliforniaâ portion of Wyoming, was a rare sighting to begin with. She now faces a competitive primary challenge from a Trump-endorsed opponent, land-use attorney Harriet Hageman, a local of Cheyenne.
Cheneyâs focus on Washington rather than Wyoming, the Times wrote, âis raising questions in Wyoming about whether she is counting on Democrats to bail her out in the August primary â or even whether she really is battling to hold on to her office.â
Cheneyâs campaign, which has made an ongoing feud with former President Donald Trump and his supporters the hallmark of her tenure in the lower chamber, is funded in part by the same blue-dollar donors who bankrolled the Lincoln Project. The incumbent congresswoman is also holding East Coast fundraisers with similarly prominent NeverTrump crusaders including Mitt Romney, a Republican senator from Utah.
âIâm not going to convince the crazies and I reject the crazies,â Cheney told the Times Saturday while she gathered with reporters instead of grassroots supporters 230 miles away. âI reject the notion that somehow we donât have to abide by the rule of law. And the people right now who are in the leadership of our state party, Iâm not trying to get their support because theyâve abandoned the Constitution.â…’