Liz Cheney defeated by Trump-backed Harriet Hageman
US Congresswoman Liz Cheney is the latest key Republican figure to lose a primary to a Trump-backed challenger after voting to impeach the former president.
In US primary election, Wyoming voters ousted Congresswoman Liz Cheney, a rare Republican critic of former US President Donald Trump.
Unsurprisingly, former Republican National Committee member and attorney Harriet Hageman, previously a 2018 gubernatorial candidate, was declared the winner shortly after the polls closed.
It is worth noting that Cheney was one of only two members of the Republican Party to join the Jan. 6 select committee investigating Trump's bid for another run in 2024.
All 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after his supporters attacked the US Capitol building in January last year were singled out in what many deemed a vengeance campaign.
So far, four have stepped down, and four more have been defeated by his chosen candidates in primary elections in Wyoming, Washington, and Michigan, in addition to South Carolina.
Only two Republicans have successfully defended their seats on the Republican ticket for re-election.
An end to Cheney’s whirlwind six-year
Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, was defeated decisively, capping off a whirlwind six-year congressional career.
She was elected in 2016 and took over as chair of the House Republican Conference two years later. She was a hawkish neoconservative who criticized Trump's isolationist foreign policy but otherwise backed him.
However, in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack, Cheney voted to impeach Trump and began publicly condemning him, prompting her removal as conference chair.
She was appointed to the investigative panel by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on January 6, becoming vice chair and the face of its public hearings in June and July.
Cheney has stated that she intends to continue to be an outspoken critic of Trump. She has also hinted at a possible run for higher office.
When asked by ABC last month if she plans to run for president in 2024, Cheney said, "I'll make a decision about '24 later."
The daughter of a war criminal
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who served under ex-President George Bush from 2001 to 2009, has long been held accountable for the staggering death toll in Iraq. More than half a million people were killed as a result of the US-led invasion in 2003. Cheney is considered one of the most central Republican figures and his daughter's defeat signals a drastic change within the GOP.
Yet the damage done by the US in Iraq is far from over: Innocent Iraqis were brutally tortured and humiliated at Abu Ghraib, while over a hundred prisoners remain imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. To add insult to injury, Cheney was previously the CEO of Halliburton, a company responsible for stealing Iraq's oil, not to mention fracturing rock formation that has been linked to water contamination.
As Iraq today grapples with countless challenges, the occupation monster's bloodstained legacy is alive and well post-withdrawal.
Read more: How USAID & Co. Destroyed Iraq