Former presidential nominee Mitt Romney acknowledged the potential candidates from his party, including Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney, as talk of the 2024 Republican Primary heated up.
Romney told the crowd at the South Valley Chamber of Commerce in Sandy, Utah on Thursday that Cheney had no chance of winning the presidency.
While Cheney has recently expressed interest in running for office, Romney stated, “I’m not sure if she actually wants to do it.” If she ran, she would not become the nominee. I cannot picture that happening.’
No one will be encouraged by me to run for president. I’ve done that before, and I’m not going to do it again,’ said the Utah senator who lost the 2012 presidential election to Barack Obama.
Cheney suffered a crushing 37-point loss in her primary against Harriet Hageman, who was unsurprisingly backed by former president Donald Trump, given their ongoing rivalry.
Tuesday, Cheney received only 28.9 percent of the Republican primary vote, while Hageman received 66.3 percent.
Romney endorsed Cheney in that primary, but acknowledged to Business Insider that a victory was unlikely: “I accept that in the age of Trump, it may not be realistic,” he stated.
Romney was correct, and while Cheney has not formally confirmed her candidacy, she has stated that she is ‘considering’ running to prevent Trump from retaking the White House.
She told NBC’s Today show, “I feel that Donald Trump continues to pose a very dangerous threat and risk to our nation.”
She stated, “I believe that defeating Trump will take a broad and united front of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, of which I intend to be a part.”
Romney, flanked by fellow Utah Senator Mike Lee, went even farther and said during the gathering that he expects Trump to reclaim the presidency.
He stated, “President Trump’s voice is the loudest and strongest, and those who oppose him do so at their own cost.”
Romney expressed his expectation that additional contenders will vie for the nomination at some point. My party has seen significant change during the past decade. It will change again within the next decade. I cannot explain how, but I believe we will have more than one voice at some point.’
Given the previous president’s popularity, he believes that the choice will not be someone “outside of the Trump orbit.”
‘If he doesn’t run again, I believe it will be his followers or those who didn’t say anything about him who would be open to becoming the nominee,’ he said.
Romney and Cheney are well-known adversaries of Trump, and both supported his impeachment following the January 6 Capitol Riot while rejecting his allegations that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Cheney, a three-term representative for Wyoming’s at-large district, attributed her 37.4-point loss to former President Donald Trump, who supported Hageman.
She joins Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan and Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina, both of whom were expelled for not vocally supporting former president Trump.
Cheney won her previous primary by 73 points, but she is now paying the price for her opposition to Trump, which resulted in censure from the Wyoming Republican Party and removal from her position as House Republican Conference chairwoman.
Cheney stated in her concession address, “Abraham Lincoln lost elections for the Senate and House before he won the most important election.”
THE TEN REPUBLICAN MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE WHO VOTED FOR TRUMP’S SECOND IMPEACHMENT
Rep. Liz Cheney – lost the primary election.
Rep. Anthony Gonzalez is leaving office.
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler – lost the primary election.
Rep. John Katko – retirement
Rep. Adam Kinzinger – retiring
Rep. Peter Meijer – lost primary
Rep. Dan Newhouse – won the primary election.
Rep. Tom Rice – lost the primary election.
Rep. Fred Upton – leaving office
Rep. David Valadao – won the primary election.
Cheney stated that she had won her primary by 73 points two years prior. She said, “I could have simply repeated my actions – the route was plain.”
She claimed that all she had to do was spread the election fraud lies of former President Donald Trump and support his attacks on the democratic system.
Trump was ecstatic about Tuesday’s election results after making it his mission to oust Cheney from her House position, and he claimed that her defeat prepared the door for the dissolution of the select committee on January 6.
On his Truth Social account, he declared, “The people have spoken!” and added that the primary was a “referendum on ending the witch hunt.”
He stated, “I expect that the January 6th Committee of political Hacks and Thugs will immediately begin the magnificent process of DISSOLUTION in the wake of Liz Cheney’s colossal defeat, which was far greater than anyone could have anticipated.”
Cheney’s next confirmed move will be to form a group focused on challenges to the American government system, with the primary goal of preventing Trump from winning re-election.
Cheney spokesperson Jeremy Adler told Politico: “In the coming weeks, Liz will start an organization to educate the American people about the ongoing threat to our Republic and to mobilize a cohesive effort to resist any Donald Trump presidential candidacy.”
The outfit does not yet have a name, but it will be Cheney’s major political organization as she considers a run for the White House in 2024.
Cheney, who presently serves as vice-chair of a House select committee, has become the most prominent Republican critic of Trump in the House.
The daughter of the former Republican vice president has stayed consistent in her criticism, stating in a campaign advertisement this week that her party’s endorsement of Trump’s ‘great lie’ – his baseless assertions that the 2020 election was stolen from him – is a ‘disease’
In the video, she stated, “The idea that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is pernicious.”
She said that the bogus assertions are a “door Trump opened to deceive Americans into abandoning their ideals, sacrificing their freedom to justify violence, and disregarding the judgements of our courts and the rule of law.”
Cheney’s campaign events are never published, and reporters are only selectively notified, due to threats to her safety. Last week, This Town author Mark Leibovich wrote in The Atlantic that security is strong and paranoia runs deep in Cheney World, likely for good cause.
She travels with an armed Capitol Police protection, according to the New Yorker.
It worked that Hageman exhibited the normal grasping and grin connected with winning an election.
