Liz Cheney One Step Closer to Congress With Primary Win

Former VP's daughter won a crowded GOP primary in Wyoming.

ByABC News
August 17, 2016, 1:29 PM
Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, watches as her father and mother unveil a marble bust made in his likeness during a ceremony Dec. 3, 2015 in Washington.
Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, watches as her father and mother unveil a marble bust made in his likeness during a ceremony Dec. 3, 2015 in Washington.
Keith Lane/Getty Images

— -- After last night’s primary results in Wyoming, the Cheney name is well on its way back to Capitol Hill.

Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, won a crowded GOP primary for the state’s sole House seat -- sending her on a fast track to Congress, assuming she wins the general election in the reliably red district, which her father himself represented for ten years.

“I’m honored by the trust Wyoming Republicans have placed in me to serve as our next Representative in Congress," Cheney said in a statement in reaction to her win.

She also tweeted that message along with a picture of her embracing her father.

The former State Department official and conservative commentator is seeking to replace retiring Rep. Cynthia Lummis, the only woman in the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

According to The Associated Press, which called the election, Cheney finished the nine-way primary with 40 percent of the vote.

This isn’t Cheney’s first bid for federal office. In 2014, she briefly challenged sitting Sen. Mike Enzi, which didn’t sit well with most members of the state’s Republican establishment, but quit the race before the primary, citing health issues in her family.

Cheney’s primary victory also represents a win for pro-Donald Trump Republicans running down the ballot.

She told conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh last week, “in Wyoming there's no question for us that Hillary Clinton would be devastating -- and far, far worse than Donald Trump. We've gotta unify behind him and make sure Hillary Clinton's not elected,” calling Clinton a felon.

Granted, Cheney doesn’t face the same challenge in being tied to Trump that Republicans running in more moderate districts do. Wyoming’s at-large House seat hasn’t been in Democratic hands since 1978.

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