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Targeted by Trump for opposing his ‘lies’ about election fraud, Rep. Liz Cheney raises $1.9 million

Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger also raises $1.5 million

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney raised $1.9 million the second quarter as she battles for her political survival as a top Republican target of former President Donald Trump.
Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney raised $1.9 million the second quarter as she battles for her political survival as a top Republican target of former President Donald Trump. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney raised nearly $1.9 million during the second quarter of this year as she prepares to battle for her political survival as one of former President Donald Trump’s top targets in next year’s Republican primaries.

The fundraising from April through June comes on top of the $1.5 million she raised in the first quarter, and left Cheney with nearly $2.9 million in cash on hand on June 30, Fox News reported.

The latest three-month haul nearly totals what Cheney spent on her past two reelections combined — total operating expenditures were $1.3 million in the 2020 cycle and $690,000 in 2018.

Cheney spent another $1.8 million in the 2020 cycle on contributions to other Republican campaigns and PACs, including $1.7 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Most of her fellow Republicans have since turned on Cheney, however, and, in May, they ousted her from her position as the No. 3 House GOP leader because she continued to urge colleagues to reject Trump’s baseless claims that President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election was the result of rampant fraud.

“If you want leaders who will enable and spread his destructive lies, I’m not your person; you have plenty of others to choose from,” she said after her ouster.

Cheney joined nine other House Republicans in January in voting to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 riot by his supporters at the Capitol.

Earlier this month, Speaker Nancy Pelosi named Cheney to a select committee that will investigate the Jan. 6 attack. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has not yet named other GOP members to the panel. Cheney and Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger were the only two Republicans to support establishing the select committee, which was formed after GOP senators filibustered a bill to create an independent commission.

Kinzinger, who also supported impeachment and has been targeted by Trump for defeat, raised $1.3 million during the second quarter of 2021, according to Politico. In a statement last month, Trump included Kinzinger on a list of “losers” who are “what’s really wrong with the Republican Party.”

Trump has not yet endorsed any of Cheney’s Republican challengers. In a May statement, he made note of polls showing her being unpopular in Wyoming but warned of a scenario that could see her retain her seat.

“She is so low that her only chance would be if vast numbers of people run against her which, hopefully, won’t happen,” the former president wrote in an email blast. “They never liked her much but I say she’ll never run in a Wyoming Election again.”

Wyoming state Sen. Anthony Bouchard and state Rep. Chuck Gray, who have launched primary challenges to Cheney, raised $330,000 and 173,000, respectively, through March 31. Filings for the second quarter are due Thursday to the Federal Election Commission.

Bouchard and Gray are among at least a half-dozen Republicans who have filed to run against Cheney. A crowded field could end up fracturing the opposition and benefiting the congresswoman because, in Wyoming, a candidate needs only a plurality to win the primary. An attempt to require a runoff in races in which no one gets a majority failed in the state Senate earlier this year. 

Stephanie Akin contributed to this report.

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