Trump-Backed Harriet Hageman Defeats Liz Cheney in Wyoming GOP Primary by 37-Point Landslide

Incumbent Wyoming Republican U.S. Representative Liz Cheney suffers a crushing primary defeat to Trump-endorsed challenger Harriet Hageman, losing 66.3% to 28.9% in one of the most decisive House incumbent losses in 60 years. Cheney, who won her 2020 reelection with 68.6% of the vote, faces overwhelming backlash from Wyoming Republicans for voting to impeach Trump after the January 6 Capitol attack and serving as vice chair of the House January 6 Committee. The 37-point margin represents the second-worst defeat for a House incumbent in six decades, behind only South Carolina Republican Bob Inglis in a 2010 primary runoff.

Hageman, an attorney who previously supported Cheney’s 2016 House campaign and condemned Trump in 2016 as “racist and xenophobic,” reverses her position after Trump’s endorsement. In her victory speech, Hageman declares: “By our vote today, Wyoming has put the elites on notice: We are no longer going to tolerate representatives who don’t represent us.” The result exemplifies Trump’s near-total capture of the Republican Party, demonstrating that defending constitutional processes and investigating presidential wrongdoing constitutes career suicide for GOP officeholders. Cheney becomes the highest-profile House Republican to lose their primary to a Trump-endorsed challenger after voting for impeachment.

The Wyoming primary purge illustrates democratic capture through the transformation of electoral accountability from responsive representation to authoritarian loyalty tests. Despite Cheney’s conservative voting record aligning 93% with Trump’s positions during his presidency, her commitment to constitutional oversight over party loyalty triggers overwhelming rejection from Wyoming’s Republican electorate. The outcome sends an unmistakable message to Republican officeholders nationwide: investigating Trump or defending constitutional institutions guarantees political destruction, effectively transforming the GOP from a political party into a personality cult enforcing absolute fealty to one individual. Wyoming’s Republican voters choose Hageman despite her documented reversal from condemning Trump’s racism to becoming his endorsed candidate, prioritizing Trump loyalty over policy consistency or principled conservatism.