With Wyoming’s Republican primary election about three months away, campaigning for the state’s lone U.S. House is picking up, with Donald Trump Jr. advertising in support of Harriet Hageman.
Trump Jr., in a new ad to air on cable and broadcast television channels, is endorsing Hageman in her challenge to U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney re-election bid in the ad.
“She’s the congresswoman Wyoming deserves,” Trump Jr. said in the ad, which will run for the next three weeks.
The campaign is sponsored by Wyoming Values PAC, of which Trump Jr. is an honorary chair. As of its most recent filing on March 31, the political action committee had raised $957,419 in the 2022 election cycle and spent $604,759.
In a Tuesday press release, the group said it plans to spend more than $500,000 in advertising leading up to former President Donald Trump’s rally with Hageman on May 28 in Casper.
Wyoming Values has registered itself as a “super PAC.” According to Opensecrets.org, a nonprofit campaign contribution resource, “super PACs” may raise unlimited sums of money through donations from individuals and organizations and then spend an unlimited amount in support of or opposition to political candidates. However, they cannot donate money directly to candidates and they must act independently of the candidate.
Wyoming Values is registered in Virginia. The Hageman campaign has repeatedly implied that Cheney’s positions are more closely tied to those of Virginia than Wyoming. In March, the Hageman campaign created a spoof website called “Cheney for Virginia.”
In a news release announcing the online ads featuring Trump Jr., Wyoming Values lists a Casper address as its contact point. Very little information is provided on the PAC’s website beyond describing itself as “conservative representation for Wyoming,” and providing a section for people to donate to its campaign.
During the advertisement, Trump Jr. refers to his father’s endorsement of the Hageman campaign.
“For far too long Liz Cheney has bowed to the Democrat elites like (Rep.) Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). That’s why my father and I endorse Harriet Hageman for Congress,” he said.
In a copy of the 31-second video posted to YouTube, Sunday, Trump Jr. also said Hageman will defend the border and the U.S. Constitution.
Cheney has been a vocal critic of the former president and voted for his impeachment on allegations he agitated rioters to invade the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump endorsed Hageman on the day she announced she would challenge Cheney for the GOP nomination to the House.
Cheney has launched a series of her own Internet ads as well, but with a focus largely on her own campaign rather than criticism of her challengers.
The two candidates’ social media pages also differ in their focus, with Cheney’s mostly covering her stances on domestic and international policy issues. Hageman has taken more of a pointed approach, creating at least seven posts since April 15 that boast of her allegiance to Trump or criticize Cheney.
Through March 31, Cheney’s campaign had raised $10.1 million, with out-of-state donors making up the majority of her individual contributions. Her contribution total with almost six months to go before the general election shatters the $3 million she raised throughout her 2020 campaign.
According to Opensecrets,The Blackstone Group, an investment management company based in New York City, was Cheney’s biggest individual contributor through March 31 with $34,800 donated.
Cheney has spent just under $3.5 million during this campaign cycle.
Katherine Christy, a Florida resident, was Hageman’s largest individual contributor at $11,600.
Hageman has raised $2.06 million and spent $986,606 on her campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Hageman has more than twice as many individual Wyoming contributions as Cheney, $543,094 compared to Cheney’s $255,336. California is the largest source of Cheney’s individual contributions with $942,758. Florida is Hageman’s second-largest source, with donations totaling $211,983.
Great Task PAC, a Cheyenne-based political action committee formed to support Cheney’s third re-election bid, made the largest single donation to Cheney’s campaign at $296,835. In all, Great Task has donated $550,735 to Cheney in six separate donations.
(Editor’s note: This story was updated on Friday, Feb. 13, to remove references to WINRED as a campaign donor. WINRED is a vendor that processes campaign contributions for candidates.)
