Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) is sending out mailers to recruit Wyoming Democrats to change parties and vote for her in the upcoming Republican primary.
The mailers, sent in recent days to Democrats in the state, give specific instructions on how people can switch their voter affiliation and vote for her in the August primary, according to The New York Times.
Cheney, criticized by many Republicans for her involvement with the January 6 committee, faces a Trump-endorsed challenger in Wyoming attorney Harriet Hageman, whose campaign went after Cheney for the mailers.
“Liz Cheney told The New York Times that she wouldn’t be encouraging Democrats to raid the Republican primary, but I guess the drive to hold onto power is just too strong for her to keep her word,” Hageman’s campaign manager Carly Miller said. “What Cheney doesn’t understand is that Democrats will drop her like a bad habit after she’s no longer useful to them on the Jan. 6 committee.”
Wyoming’s sole congressional representative had told the Times in February that she would not be making a concerted effort to earn the votes of Democrats in the state.
“That is not something that I have contemplated, that I have organized or that I will organize,”she said.
A Cheney spokesman now says that she is “proud to represent all Wyomingites and is working hard to earn every vote.” Her campaign website also has a section devoted to instruction on how to change “party affiliation to register as a Republican” to vote for her.
Miller said that Cheney has ended “all her relationships with Republicans” and was just being used by Democrats.
“Democrats don’t like Liz Cheney, and they’ll discard her as soon as she’s no longer useful as their attack dog on the January 6th Committee. And she’s burned all her relationships with Republicans, so she truly cannot be effective for Wyoming anymore. Reaching out to Democrats to try to save her own political life just shows how desperate she is to hold onto power,” she said.
Some analysts say that the gambit will likely not pay off.
“Even if every Democrat in the state switched over,” Wyoming Democrat Party Chairman Joseph Barbuto said. “I don’t think it’d be enough to help her.”
Last month, a poll from the Club for Growth, which is opposing Cheney, found that Hageman had 56% of the vote while Cheney only garnered 26%. The polling was conducted by the Republican firm, WPA Intelligence, Politico first reported, noting that Club for Growth has not officially endorsed Hageman.
The Wyoming Republican primary will be held on August 16.
Mary Margaret Olohan contributed to this report.