- Liz Cheney faces the biggest test of her political career in the Aug. 16 Wyoming GOP House primary.
- Once seen as potential House speaker, the congresswoman was ousted from GOP leadership last year.
- A vocal critic of Trump, she has become the face of the January 6 panel probing the Capitol riot.
GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who was first elected to represent Wyoming's at-large congressional district in 2016, has long compiled a voting record that reflects her conservative political beliefs and that of her constituents.
In 2017, she voted for former President Donald Trump's signature $4, which cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.
The congresswoman also $4 a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, calling the Democratic-enacted health care legislation "a disaster for hard-working Americans."
Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, $4 on legislative issues 92.9 percent of the time during his four years in office.
But after the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, she became one of the former president's most prolific Republicans critics, $4 to impeach him for "incitement of insurrection" and railing against what she described as his disregard for the Constitution as he has repeatedly disputed the results of the 2020 presidential election.
That criticism has made Cheney one of Trump's biggest electoral targets, as she faces a tough August 16 primary against a slate of candidates led by water rights attorney Harriet Hageman, who was $4 by the former president and over 100 of her GOP House colleagues.
Here is how the dramatic shift in Cheney's political trajectory was put into motion:
November 8, 2016: Cheney is first elected to the House
Cheney was first elected to Wyoming's at-large congressional district, taking in 62% of the vote in the same election where Trump won the presidency.
She ran on a conservative platform in an overwhelmingly Republican state, and was on her way to a Congress that would soon be fully controlled by Republicans.
Many Republicans, including former Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, once $4 Cheney as a future GOP House speaker.
"You could see a speaker's gavel in her hand, and I don't think it's that many years off frankly," he said in November 2020, when Cheney was still the No. 3 House Republican — a role she assumed just two years after joining Congress.
January 6, 2021: Cheney immediately rebukes Trump after the Capitol riot
Cheney saw $4 as an affront to the rule of law — it disrupted the Electoral College certification of President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory and forced lawmakers into secure spaces away from the mayhem that was unfolding at the ornate building.
To Cheney, Trump abdicated his commitment to the secure and peaceful transfer of power, threatening democracy based on $4 that were used to whip up aggrieved supporters who felt that he had been wronged.
That same day, Cheney $4 a blistering indictment of Trump.
"We just had a violent mob assault the US Capitol in an attempt to prevent those from carrying out our Constitutional duty," she said in a statement. "There is no question that the President formed the mob, the President incited the mob, the President addressed the mob. He lit the flame."
"This is what America is not. It has just been absolutely intolerable and unacceptable. The mob will not prevail," she added.
January 13, 2021: Cheney votes to impeach Trump
Cheney was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for his role in the Capitol riot.
In announcing her vote to convict, the congresswoman issued a $4 rebuke of the former president.
"None of this would have happened without the President," she said. "The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution."
Voting for impeachment against a president in the same political party $4, but Cheney's political pedigree and stature immediately put her vote under a microscope.
February 3, 2021: A vote is held on Cheney's future in leadership
By going against Trump, the reigning leader of the GOP, Cheney's position in leadership was quickly imperiled, especially among conservatives who remained steadfastly loyal to the former president.
Despite the dissent among many members, she retained the $4 of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, a critical boost at the time.
During a vote on Cheney's fate in leadership, she gave an intensely personal speech, saying that she was "deeply concerned about where our party is headed," $4 The New York Times Magazine.
In a 145-61 vote, the Republican caucus $4 Cheney in leadership.
February 6, 2021: Cheney is censured by the Wyoming GOP
The reverberations from the GOP turmoil in Washington, DC, quickly created trouble for Cheney back home in the Equality State.
On February 6, Cheney was $4 by the state party for her vote to impeach Trump.
Wyoming Republicans contended that Cheney's position was a slap in the face of the will of the state's voters, who $4 70 percent of the vote to Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
"Does the voice of the people matter and if it does, does it only matter at the ballot box?" said Joey Correnti, the GOP chairman in Carbon County, $4.
After the censure vote, Cheney $4 her position, saying that she would continue to focus on representing the state.
"Foremost among these is the defense of our Constitution and the freedoms it guarantees," she said. "My vote to impeach was compelled by the oath I swore to the Constitution."
April 27, 2021: The cracks in leadership become apparent
For weeks, the relationship between Cheney, McCarthy, and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise had deteriorated as Cheney continued to lambast Trump for his false claims about the election.
In late April 2021, McCarthy publicly declined to say whether he believed that she should remain in the party's leadership.
$4 by Punchbowl News reporter Jake Sherman if Cheney was still "a good fit" for the leadership team, McCarthy declined to offer his own personal assessment.
"That's a question for the conference," he said at the time.
May 9, 2021: McCarthy officially backs a successor to Cheney
McCarthy threw his support behind Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York to ascend to the No. 3 leadership position.
Stefanik had a more moderate voting record than Cheney during Trump's presidency, but the New York lawmaker continued to question the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election, much to the delight of the former president.
May 12, 2021: Cheney is ousted from leadership
Cheney, a longtime champion of conservative values, was $4 as the House Conference Chair in a voice vote.
A day before the vote, she $4 her sentiments about the 2020 election in a defiant House floor speech.
"Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar," she said at the time. "I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president's crusade to undermine our democracy."
September 2, 2021: Pelosi taps Cheney for the January 6 committee
Cheney was $4 by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California to serve as the vice chair of the House committee investigating January 6.
While a bill creating a bipartisan panel passed the Democratic-controlled House, it was $4 by Senate Republicans as it failed to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to avoid a legislative filibuster. Pelosi, in turn, created a panel investigating the riot.
"We owe it to the American people to investigate everything that led up to, and transpired on, January 6th. We will not be deterred by threats or attempted obstruction and we will not rest until our task is complete," Cheney said in a statement in which she accepted the vice chair post.
June 9, 2022: The first January 6 hearing is held
The first public hearing of the January 6 committee was broadcast on June 9, 2022, with almost 20 million people tuning in during prime-time hours.
The panel's work has subsequently led to $4 which have brought previously undisclosed revelations about the events of that day to the public, including bombshell testimony from former White House aide $4 about Trump's actions on January 6 and testimony from Arizona House Speaker $4, who was pressured by a litany of Trump allies to help overturn Biden's win in the key swing state.
August 16, 2022: Primary Day in Wyoming
Cheney faces a huge challenge in overcoming the strong pro-Trump sentiment among $4 in the state in light of her work on the January 6 committee.
Hageman has the support of most GOP leaders in Washington, DC, along with much of the party apparatus in Wyoming.
But as Insider's Oma Seddiq $4, Cheney still retains goodwill among some Republicans on Capitol Hill.
"I hope she wins," Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah told Insider. "I've hosted fundraisers for her. But I recognize that in the time of Trump that may not be possible."
"We'll see what happens, but I don't think she's gone by any means. I wouldn't be surprised to see her run for president," he added.
Cheney, in several interviews this summer, $4 a 2024 White House campaign.