Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) may be be one of the most nationally unpopular GOP figures among the Republican base, but as of Tuesday she remains the most well-funded Republican House member in the country. With no clear challenger to Cheney emerging as of yet, experts have speculated that the nearly $3 million she has on hand as of July 13 may be enough to propel her to re-election.
A report from Fox News on Tuesday found that the Cheney campaign boasts of having $2.85 million in the bank as of the end of June. The rep. who participated in a failed attempt to impeach former President Donald Trump netted $1.8 million in fundraising cash in the second quarter of 2021, beating the first quarter’s total of $1.5 million.
In total, the Cheney campaign has raised almost $3.5 million in 2021, beating out the field of primary challengers by a substantial margin. For example, Wyoming State Sen. Anthony Bouchard had self-reported a total of about $500,000 in fundraising cash.
Cheney, who maintains abysmal favorability ratings amongst Republican voters both in her home state and on the national scale, has nonetheless remained confident in her chances to secure re-election, even after being removed from her post as House Conference Chair. The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s overflowing fundraising coffers may provide a clue to the source of said confidence.
President Donald Trump has vowed to campaign against Cheney, and blasted her as a “warmongering fool” in a statement released in April:
“Liz Cheney is polling sooo low in Wyoming, and has sooo little support, even from the Wyoming Republican Party, that she is looking for a way out of her Congressional race. Based on all polling, there is no way she can win,” Trump said in Tuesday’s statement from the Save America PAC. The former President added, “She’ll either be yet another lobbyist or maybe embarrass her family by running for President, in order to save face. This warmongering fool wants to stay in the Middle East and Afghanistan for another 19 years, but doesn’t consider the big picture—Russia and China!”
The animus between Cheney and Trump stems in part from Cheney’s efforts to block Trump from bringing home troops in Afghanistan over the since-debunked “Russian bounties” hoax.