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Person

Liz Cheney

Nationality:

American
Born:

July 28, 1966
Political Party:

Republican

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Liz Cheney is a U.S politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2017 through 2023 representing Wyoming’s single congressional district. The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, 1 she ended her congressional career as the vice chair of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol and was a leading Republican critic of former President Donald Trump. 2 During the 2024 presidential election, Liz Cheney campaigned in support of Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. 3

Background

Liz Cheney is the oldest daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and former chair of the National Endowment for Humanities Lynne Cheney. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016 to represent Wyoming’s single congressional district and served until she left office in 2023 after losing the Republican nomination in 2022. 1

Liz Cheney is married to Phil Perry. The two have five children and live in Wilson, Wyoming. 2 She has an estimated net worth of $10.4 million. 4

Cheney is a member of the International Board of Advisors at the University of Wyoming. 2

Career Before Congress

Liz Cheney is a 1996 graduate of the University of Chicago School of Law and a 1988 graduate of Colorado College. 1 Before law school, Cheney worked from 1989 to 1992 for the staff of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and briefly in 1992 for the staff of the U.S. State Department during the George H.W. Bush administration, while her father served as U.S. Secretary of Defense. 1

In the private sector, Cheney practiced law at the firm of White & Case, and at the International Finance Corporation. 2

Cheney worked at the State Department as a deputy assistant secretary of state for near Eastern affairs and coordinator for Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiatives during the George W. Bush Administration while her father was vice president. 2

Cheney was previously a Fox News analyst and was co-author with her father of the book, Exceptional: Why The World Needs a Powerful America. 2

In politics, Cheney worked for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign in 2004 and was a national co-chair of the presidential campaign of former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN) in 2008. 5 6

In 2009, Cheney and Bill Kristol founded Keep America Safe, a nonprofit focused on national security issues that advocated policy positions held by the previous George W. Bush administration. 2

Early Congressional Career

In 2014, Cheney ran in the Republican Primary for the Wyoming Senate seat against then-U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), though she withdrew from the race before the primary. 5

In 2016, Cheney ran for the U.S. House seat being vacated by then-Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY). She faced several candidates in the Republican primary including state legislator Leland Christensen, who was endorsed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). 7 Cheney won the race with about 35,000 votes to Christensen’s 19,000. 8 In the general election, Cheney defeated Democratic candidate Ryan Greene with 62 percent of the vote. 9

While in Congress, Rep. Cheney was a member of the House Armed Services Committee, the Natural Resources Committee and the Rules Committee. 5 From 2019 to 2021, she also served as the chair for the House Republican Conference, the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives. 2

Energy Record

In 2022, it was reported that several of Cheney’s largest political and campaign donors included Dallas-based energy executive Jere Thompson, Dallas oil executive Ray Hunt, and Nancy Kinder, a philanthropist whose husband founded energy infrastructure company Kinder Morgan. 10

In 2021, Cheney introduced the Safeguarding Oil and Gas Leasing and Permitting Act, which would have blocked President Joe Biden’s executive order to ban oil and gas leasing on federal lands. She also introduced the Safeguarding Coal Leasing Act, which would have blocked a potential coal moratorium from President Biden. 11

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Cheney called for the Biden administration to relax regulations on the energy industry so the United States could be more energy independent and avoid the need for Russian oil. 12

Advocacy against Donald Trump

During the first Trump administration, Cheney voted 93 percent in line with President Trump’s positions such as supporting tax cuts, energy independence, military action against Iran, and opposing Obamacare. Cheney voted against Trump’s first impeachment in 2019. 13

Following the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Cheney voted for the 2021 impeachment of former President Trump over alleged high crimes and misdemeanors related to the riot. 13 Following repeated criticisms of the former president, Cheney was removed from her House GOP leadership position in May 2021. 14

Cheney was later named the vice chair of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. 2 She was one of two House Republicans on the nine-member committee. 15 All members were appointed by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) after she blocked appointments by then-House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Rep. McCarthy withdrew his other appointees. 16

In November 2021, the Wyoming GOP Central Committee voted to no longer recognize Cheney as a member of the Republican Party. 17 The Republican National Committee (RNC) later voted to censure Cheney in February 2022. 5

In May 2022, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library gave Cheney a “Profiles in Courage” Award due to her criticism of former President Trump and work with the January 6 committee. 18

Cheney co-sponsored a bill in late 2022 with Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), also a member of the January 6 committee, to reform the Electoral Count Act and change how Congress counts presidential electors to reduce the chances of overturning an election. 19

Cheney would go on to lose the 2022 Wyoming Republican primary to Trump-endorsed candidate Harriet Hageman. 5

Post-Congress Advocacy

Following her leave from Congress, Cheney continued to vocally criticize former president Trump, particularly his 2024 reelection campaign. During the 2024 presidential election, Cheney endorsed and campaigned for the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. Following Harris’s loss to Trump in November, several Democrats criticized Cheney’s messaging, while claiming the Harris campaign focused too heavily on Cheney’s messaging. 3

References

  1.  “Liz Cheney.” Ballotpedia. Accessed December 4, 2024. https://ballotpedia.org/Liz_Cheney
  2. “Biography.” Rep. Liz Cheney. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://cheney.house.gov/biography/
  3. Lang, Alex. “Dem Insiders Say Concerns about Using Liz Cheney on Harris Campaign Were Ignored.” The Independent, November 9, 2024. https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/harris-campaign-liz-cheney-election-b2644062.html.
  4. Ruzicka, Emilia. “Richest current Republican politicians in Congress.” Stacker. November 22, 2022. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://stacker.com/government/richest-current-republican-politicians-congress
  5. “Liz Cheney.” Ballotpedia. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://ballotpedia.org/Liz_Cheney
  6. Press Release. “Fred Thompson Announces National Campaign Leadership Team.” Archived by American Presidency Project. October 08, 2007. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/press-release-fred-thompson-announces-national-campaign-leadership-team
  7. Samuelson, Darren. “Rand Paul backs Liz Cheney’s primary challenger.” Politico. August 14, 2016. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/rand-paul-liz-cheney-primary-226999
  8. “2016 Statewide Candidates Official Summary: Wyoming Primary Election, August 16, 2016.” Wyoming Secretary of State. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://sos.wyo.gov/Elections/Docs/2016/Results/Primary/2016_Statewide_Candidates_Summary.pdf
  9. “2016 Wyoming House Elections.” Politico. December 13, 2016. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/house/wyoming/
  10. Patel, Shafaq and Price, Asher. “Liz Cheney raises big cash from Houston donors.” Axios. August 16, 2022. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://www.axios.com/local/houston/2022/08/16/liz-cheney-fundraises-houston-texas
  11. Conklin, Audrey and Olson, Tyler. “Cheney introducing bills prohibiting Biden coal, oil, gas leasing moratoriums.” Fox Business. January 28, 2021. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/cheney-legislation-biden-oil-gas-moratoriums
  12. Beck, Bob. “Cheney continues to push for more energy independence.” Wyoming Public Media. March 17, 2022. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/politics-government/2022-03-17/cheney-continues-to-push-for-more-energy-independence
  13.  Mordowanec, Nick. “Liz Cheney Voted With Trump 93 Percent of Her Congressional Career.” Newsweek. August 16, 2022. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://www.newsweek.com/liz-cheney-voted-donald-trump-93-percent-congress-1734186
  14. Hudak, Zachary, Rebecca Kaplan, Caroline Linton, Melissa Quinn, Grace Segers and Kathryn Watson. “Liz Cheney removed from House GOP leadership.” CBS News, May 13, 2021. https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/liz-cheney-removed-gop-leadership/
  15. “Membership.” January 6th Committee. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://january6th.house.gov/about/membership
  16. Grayer, Annie, and Jeremy Herb. “McCarthy Pulls His 5 GOP Members from 1/6 Committee after Pelosi Rejects 2 of His Picks | CNN Politics.” CNN, July 21, 2021. https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/21/politics/nancy-pelosi-rejects-republicans-from-committee/index.html.
  17. Eavis, Victoria.  ”Wyoming GOP votes to no longer recognize Rep. Cheney as a Republican.” Casper Star-Tribune. November 16, 2021. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/wyoming-gop-votes-to-no-longer-recognize-rep-cheney-as-a-republican/article_66c3a62d-7207-54c7-b277-183817c0563c.html
  18.  Press Relese. “Cheney in Profile In Courage Speech: Every One Has A Duty To Set Aside Partisan Battles And Stand Together To Preserve Our Great Republic.” May 23, 2022. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://cheney.house.gov/2022/05/23/cheney-in-profile-in-courage-speech-every-one-has-a-duty-to-set-aside-partisan-battles-and-stand-together-to-preserve-our-great-republic/
  19. Beckwith, Ryan Teague. “Liz Cheney Introduces Electoral Vote Bill to Avoid Repeat of Jan. 6.” Bloomberg. September 19, 2022. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-19/cheney-introduces-electoral-vote-bill-to-avoid-repeat-of-jan-6?leadSource=uverify%20wall
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