Republican congressional candidate Harriet Hageman will be joined by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul during two Wyoming town hall meetings next week.
Hageman and Paul, R-Kentucky, will appear at Little America Hotel and Resort in Cheyenne and the Campbell County Public Library in Gillette on Monday. The events are open to the public.
“It is a terrific honor to welcome Sen. Paul to our state, because he is a national leader in the conservative movement and truly in step with our belief in liberty and freedom we all have here in Wyoming,” Hageman said Tuesday. “I am grateful for his support and willingness to come visit with us, because this shows how important it is that we take our only House seat back for the people of Wyoming. When I am in Congress, I will fight every day to protect the freedoms guaranteed to us in the Bill of Rights. As a fourth-generation Wyomingite, this state is in my DNA, and as its Representative, I will fight as hard as I always have.”
Paul endorsed Hageman for Congress in December.
“Harriet represents the spirit of Wyoming, which is full of people who want to live their lives without the oppressive weight of the federal government on their backs,” he said at the time. “She has a record of fighting against government overreach and will bring that same tenacity to Congress. On foreign policy, she shares my view that we should pursue policies that put America First. I encourage everyone to get behind Harriet Hageman and make her the next congresswoman from Wyoming.”
Hageman, a Cheyenne attorney, is running against U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney in the GOP primary for Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat. Hageman, who supported Cheney’s initial run for Congress in 2016, announced her candidacy in September and quickly won an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.
Paul is a political foe of incumbent Cheney who endorsed the late Leland Christensen in 2016 during his run for Congress.
The Cheney/Paul feud stretches back to before Cheney’s time in Congress, with the Kentucky senator mocking her run for U.S. Senate in 2013.
“When I heard Liz Cheney was running for Senate I wondered if she was running in her home state of Virginia,” Paul said at the time.
Paul has said he does not think Cheney is good for the country and alleged that she was trying to sabotage Trump’s foreign policy.
“I mean she tries to sabotage everything he tries to do in foreign policy, so I don’t know whether she’s a good advocate for the president or not,” Paul said in July 2020.
Former U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin, who represented Wyoming in Congress from 1995 to 2007, has joined about 20 current and former elected officials to back Hageman in her challenge of Cheney.
Former legislators who have endorsed her include former House Speaker Bill McIlvain, R-Cheyenne, Rep. Scott Clem, R-Gillette, Rep. Hans Hunt, R-Newcastle, former Rep. David Miller, R-Lander, Rep. Marti Halverson, R-Etna, and Rep. Teense Willford, R-Saratoga.
Current legislators who have endorsed her include Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle and Rep. Chip Neiman, R-Hulett.