Rep. Liz Cheney concedes GOP primary race: 'Now the real work begins'

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has lost her Republican primary race to Harriet Hageman, several news outlets are projecting.

Cheney was one of the few Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, and is the vice chair of the House select committee investigating the incident. Hageman, a lawyer, had Trump's backing, though her support of the former president is a reversal from her 2016 stance, when she called him "the weakest candidate" in the GOP presidential race and tried to undermine his nomination at the Republican National Convention.

Cheney addressed supporters Tuesday night in Jackson, Wyoming, and said that she called Hageman and conceded the race. "The primary is over, now the real work begins," Cheney declared.

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Cheney recounted that a Gold Star father once told her that "standing up for truth honors all who gave all," and she has "thought of his words every single day since then." Two years ago, Cheney won the GOP primary with 73 percent of the vote, "and I could easily have done the same again," she said. "The path was clear, but it would have required I go along with President Trump's lie about the 2020 election. It would have required that I enable his ongoing efforts to unravel our democratic system and attack the foundations of our republic. That was a path I could not and would not take."

Cheney went on to say that "no House seat, no office in this land is more important than the principles we are all sworn to protect, and I well understood the political consequences of abiding by our duty." She reiterated her pledge to "do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office, and I mean this."

"I'm a conservative Republican," Cheney said. "I believe deeply in the principles and ideals on which my party was founded. I love its history and I love what it stood for. But I love my country more. So I ask you tonight to join me as we leave here, let us resolve that we will stand together — Republicans, Democrats, and independents — against those who would destroy our republic. They are angry, they are determined, but they have not seen anything like the power of Americans united in defense of our Constitution and committed to the cause of freedom. There is no greater power on this Earth, and with God's help, we will prevail."