CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney, a lifelong Republican, announced on Friday that he will vote for Kamala Harris in the upcoming presidential election.
His daughter, Liz Cheney, had publicly endorsed Harris just two days earlier. During an interview at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Mark Leibovich from The Atlantic asked Liz about her father’s decision, revealing that he would support Harris. The audience reacted with surprise and cheers when Leibovich exclaimed, “Wow.”
Similar to his daughter, Dick Cheney has openly criticized former President Donald Trump, especially during Liz Cheney’s challenging reelection campaign in 2022.
On Friday, Dick Cheney released a statement primarily focused on his opposition to Trump, rather than his support for Harris. He expressed, “He can never be trusted with power again. As citizens, we each have a duty to put our country above party lines to protect our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”
When approached for a comment, a spokesperson for Trump, Steven Cheung, sarcastically asked, “Who is Liz Cheney?” In their response, the campaign pointed out a past comment where Liz had labeled Harris as a “radical liberal” four years ago.
At 83 years old, Dick Cheney has rarely made public appearances recently. He has faced heart issues since his 40s and underwent a heart transplant in 2012.
His recent statement is reminiscent of a campaign ad he released in 2022 supporting his daughter Liz as she ran for a fourth term as Wyoming’s sole congresswoman. In that ad, he called Trump a “coward” for attempting to “steal the last election using lies and violence when voters had rejected him.” Unfortunately, the ad did little to help Liz, as she lost her Republican primary by a significant margin to Trump-backed attorney Harriet Hageman.
Over the years, Dick Cheney has maintained friendships with Democrats but has never backed any of them in a presidential election. Both he and Liz supported Trump in 2016, but after Liz criticized Trump’s foreign policy decisions and Trump himself condemned the “endless wars” in Afghanistan and Iraq — conflicts that began during Dick Cheney’s time as vice president — their support began to fade.
They remained largely silent about supporting Trump in 2020, while their home state of Wyoming overwhelmingly voted for him that year. By 2021, Liz’s decision to impeach Trump and her investigation into him following the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot made them both persona non grata among Trump supporters and much of the Republican Party.
There were a few exceptions, including Rep. Adam Kinzinger from Illinois, a Republican who has been critical of Trump and earlier this year endorsed Biden. Kinzinger also spoke in favor of Harris at the Democratic National Convention in August.
Several other prominent Republicans have also expressed support for Harris, while a few, like Sen. Mitt Romney and former Vice President Mike Pence, have stated they will not vote for Trump. Notably, only Romney, who is not seeking reelection, remains in office.
