report
Status: 08/16/2022 5:22 p.m
In the Republican primary in Wyoming, Liz Cheney has little chance: because she is committed to solving the storming of the Capitol – and her rival Harriet Hageman is supported by Trump.
The rodeo comes to an end in the stadium on the outskirts of Cheyenne, the capital of the US state of Wyoming. Riding bulls, catching calves, galloping around barrels – great fun, at least for the spectators. Charlie, a tall man with a bushy gray beard and a cap, can also take a lot from the rodeo for life: “You have to stand your ground. You need absolute things in life. You have to decide what you believe in and live by it,” he says . “That’s what these guys do. They absolutely believe in what they’re doing. It’s a wonderful thing.”
Work hard and with dedication. assert yourself. get up and carry on. These are the virtues with which the US culture of remembrance was taken to the western United States, and this is how people here in Wyoming still want to live today. “Wyoming really is a free state. We really don’t want a federal government or anyone telling us what to do,” said Nancy Lockwood of Laramie, president of the local League of Women Voters, a very old women voters’ association. But federal politics is currently making sure that what is possibly the most interesting primaries of this year is taking place in Wyoming.
Liz Cheney at one of the hearings on the storming of the Capitol.
Image: AP
Surprises possible with area code
Liz Cheney, daughter of Dick Cheney, is seeking re-election to the House of Representatives for a third time. Actually a sure-fire success, because Cheney is a very conservative Republican and Wyoming is a very Republican state. But, says Andrea, a young mother pushing her shopping cart out of a supermarket on the outskirts of Cheyenne, believes Cheney has betrayed the state and what its citizens believe in. That’s not okay.
Cheney is a prominent member of the committee tasked with investigating the events of January 6, 2021. She voted to punish ex-US President Donald Trump for inciting the masses to storm the Capitol. That she did that is considered treason in Wyoming. And that could take revenge today, because in Harriet Hageman, a lawyer, Cheney has an opponent. Backed by Trump, Hageman spreads his stolen election lie. In opinion polls, she is 20, 30 percentage points ahead of Cheney. Actually a clear thing, but Wyoming’s right to vote makes surprises possible.
Only voters who are registered as Republicans are allowed to vote in today’s primaries. But that can be changed in the state on election day. “Liz Cheney could win if enough of Wyoming’s very few Democrats change their affiliation and vote for her — plus the silent moderate Republicans,” said Susan Simpson of the League of Women Voters.
Aggressive political climate
The only question is whether Cheney can mobilize her supporters. Her critics say she appeared on television more often at the Jan. 6 hearings than she did in Wyoming. Cheney, on the other hand, appears concerned about her safety and has only performed at very small private events.
In Wyoming, we hear again and again that the climate has become aggressive and partisan. “It was different in the past, there was an openness to the qualities of someone who wasn’t in your party. But the door is closed,” says Marguerite Herman, who wants to represent the Democrats in the state parliament. Others report that employees at the electoral offices have been attacked or threatened.
Both camps have declared the election today to be fateful. Whoever wins the primaries wins in November and moves into the House of Representatives. That’s how clear it is in Wyoming. But whether and how the people of Wyoming can come together again is a completely different story.