By Leo Wolfson, State Politics Reporter
Leo@Cowboystatedaily.com
U.S. Congressional candidate Harriet Hageman continues to spar with U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney even after soundly beating her in the Wyoming Republican Primary.
On Monday morning, Hageman endorsed Tom Barrett, a Republican U.S. House candidate from Michigan. Late last week, Cheney endorsed Barrett’s opponent, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the Democratic incumbent.
“What I’ve read about Elissa (is) that she has voted for over $10 trillion in additional spending, she has supported Joe Biden 100% of the time and Nancy Pelosi 98% of the time,” Hageman said, according to the Detroit Free Press. “It just absolutely sickens me that Liz Cheney would be associated with her in any way whatsoever.”
Cheney’s the Connection
Hageman, a Wyoming native, lived in Michigan in the early 1990s, but otherwise has no known connections to that state.
Barrett has described Cheney and Slotkin as “establishment war hawks” who support “endless wars.”
An Iraq War veteran, Barrett told the Detroit News that he never expected the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who helped initiate the Iraq War, to come to his district and campaign against him.
2020 Election
Cheney has vowed to oppose candidates who deny or question the results of the 2020 presidential election. This has been a typical calling card of candidates, including Hageman, that former President Donald Trump has endorsed. Hageman has described the 2020 election as “rigged” and a “travesty.”
Hageman sees the topic of the 2020 election as being of low importance.
“People are concerned about putting food on the table, gas in the car and a roof over their head,” Hageman said, according to the Detroit News. “This is something that you (the media) all have been beating this drum pretty much incessantly since 2020, because it allows you to deflect attention from the failures of this administration.”
Although he has not been endorsed by Trump or gone quite as far as Hageman, Barrett has expressed skepticism over the 2020 election results, joining 10 other Michigan state legislators in sending a letter to Congress just before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol urging lawmakers to investigate voter fraud claims. After the Jan. 6 riot, he told local media in Michigan that he had no regrets about the letter.
Cheney to Campaign
Cheney is expected to appear in Michigan on Tuesday on Slotkin’s behalf.
According to the Detroit News, Barrett has expressed skepticism that Cheney’s endorsement had anything to do with his stance on the 2020 election.
Although neither Slotkin or Cheney said this directly, both alluded to it.
“While Elissa and I have our policy disagreements, at a time when our nation is facing threats at home and abroad, we need serious, responsible, substantive members like Elissa in Congress,” Cheney said in her endorsement of Slotkin.
Slotkin complemented Cheney and said that “when the heart of our democracy is being challenged, her voice and leadership have been indispensable.”
Besides opposing Trump and voting to support a gun control bill this summer, Cheney has mostly retained her staunch conservative voting record over the last two years. Slotkin, considered a moderate Democrat, has voted with President Joe Biden 100% of the time.
Cheney has also spoken against Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem, releasing a commercial opposing the two last week. Unlike her endorsement in Michigan, Cheney did not directly endorse the Democrat opponents of these two Republicans, but said if she lived in Arizona, she “absolutely would” vote for a Democrat in those races.
