U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and Harriet Hageman may be locked in a battle for the nomination to Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat, but they are really the same, according to fellow candidate Sen. Anthony Bouchard — foragers in the Washington, D.C., swamp with few real ties to Wyoming.
Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, continued Wednesday to fire shots at his two GOP primary opponents, saying a fundraiser being held in Washington, D.C., for Hageman shows she relies on the same sources for campaign donations as Cheney.
On Tuesday, Bouchard shared a flier for the much-talked about $5,800 per person fundraiser being hosted for Hageman by Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday night.
The fundraiser is being co-hosted by more than 100 House Republicans.
But Bouchard said it proves his allegation that Hageman and Cheney are synonymous — as are the photos he has posted of the two former friends together.
“Hageman’s latest campaign ad slams Cheney for ties to the Swamp and home in Virginia. Hageman then goes to the same D.C. Swamp for support and to raise money,” he said in posting the fundraising announcement.
To further make his point, Bouchard mentioned that Hageman has owned a home in the District of Columbia since 2019.
A spokesman for Hageman’s campaign said she bought the home as part of her work with a nonprofit legal firm fighting for conservative causes.
In his usual colorful language, Bouchard told Cowboy State Daily that Hageman’s home ownership in Washington should be telling to all Wyoming voters.
“It exposes her as a Beltway Swamp critter, feeding at the D.C. trough,” he said on Wednesday.
As for the fundraiser itself, Bouchard noted it is being hosted by a prominent Washington insider, lobbyist Jeff Miller, who is a lobbyist for Pfizer.
Bouchard’s spokesperson April Poley said this is particularly hypocritical of Hageman.
“Hageman made a post on her [Facebook] page yesterday against (Anthony) Fauci (chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden), but today she is holding a fundraiser at the home of one of the DC Swamp’s biggest lobbyists and he lobbies for Pfizer,” she said of Miller.
Poley said Hageman and Cheney are “two peas in a pod” and have “sold their souls to the devil.”
To Bouchard, the fundraiser is another sign that the two candidates are no different from each other.
“I knew Harriet wouldn’t be able to resist the Swamp creatures, and she jumped into the deepest part,” Bouchard said.
Hageman campaign manager Carly Miller told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday that the congressional candidate was born and raised in Wyoming and has been fighting for the water, property and constitutional rights of the people in the state for the bulk of her professional career.
“In 2019, Harriet took a tele-commuting position with a non-profit law firm in Washington, D.C., where she has been fighting vaccine mandates, RFID eartag mandates, the bump-stock ban, and against other government abuses, all at no charge to the clients,” Miller said, mentioning that Hageman’s condo is 550 square-feet on the third floor of a building without an elevator.
“Harriet is proud of the fact that her future conservative colleagues in Congress have rallied behind her candidacy, because that means she will actually be able to get things done when she represents Wyoming in the House,” she continued.
Cheney spokesman Jeremy Adler declined to comment.
