Former Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney had a short and direct message for any Texans who are “discouraged” by the state’s political leader’s “embrace” of former President Donald Trump.
“Vote for Colin Allred,” Cheney told attendees during an interview at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Friday, throwing her endorsement behind the Democrat running against Texas Senator Ted Cruz this November.
Cheney, a once high-ranking Republican, has been increasingly vocal against the former president as the 2024 election inches closer. During an appearance at Duke University on Wednesday, the former congresswoman announced her intent to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. At Friday’s event, she said that her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, plans to do the same.
Elaborating on her endorsement for Allred, Cheney said from the stage in Austin that “you might not agree on every policy position, but we need people who are going to serve in good faith.”
Former Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney speaks onstage at Ebenezer Baptist Church on January 15, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia. Cheney gave her endorsement for the Democrat challenging Texas Senator Ted Cruz during an interview in Austin on Friday.
Paras Griffin/Getty Images
“We need people who are honorable public servants, and in this race that is Colin Allred, so I’ll be working on his behalf,” Cheney added, according to a report from Dallas Morning News.
Cruz, who has endorsed Trump for president, shot back at Cheney’s comments in a statement to Dallas Morning News, calling her the “poster child of flip-flopping.” Cheney was one of two Republicans who served on the House Special Committee tasked with investigating the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. That committee ultimately recommended the Justice Department investigate Trump’s actions related to the riots.
While serving on the January 6 Committee, Cheney lost her district’s Republican primary in 2022 to Trump-backed candidate Harriet Hageman, who currently represents Wyoming’s at-large congressional district. Cruz’s team told Dallas Morning News, “Two years ago, the voters of Wyoming overwhelmingly rejected her, just like the voters of Texas will overwhelmingly reject Colin Allred this November. But hey, misery loves company.”
Cheney has warned that the former president poses a “danger” to the U.S. Constitution if reelected to the White House, and her father, who served under former Republican President Georgie W. Bush, gave a similar sentiment in a statement Friday regarding his endorsement for Harris.
“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Dick Cheney said. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment Friday evening.
